


The Bus Stop and the Barista

by snowzone5



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, F/M, Fluff, Mileven, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 01:28:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20165872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowzone5/pseuds/snowzone5
Summary: Mike gets a job in a new city. He meets a pretty girl at the bus stop. Back and forth POV story that follows their relationship. Slow burn Mileven, some angst for flavour.  And Mileven.





	1. Bus Stop, Bus Goes (I)

Mike was scrambling to get ready for his first day at his new job. His roommate Lucas left early for class. They were supposed to be looking at apartments when they were both done for the day. They needed to vacate their current apartment by the end of the month. Mike wasn't worried about finding another place, but they needed the time to actually look around for one.

He found the security card the company had sent him, and his keys. There was an elastic around the security card, it was his bus pass. Lucas knew the city a little better than Mike did, and told him what bus he needed to take to get to the office building where he was going to be working.

He grabbed the book he was reading. Mike took every chance he could to read. He liked watching horror movies a lot, but his first love was reading. He wasn't a super fast reader, but he enjoyed it more than anything else he could think of.

There was snow on the sidewalks and streets, but it wasn't too cold. It would have to get a lot colder before it reached the freezing temperatures that Hawkins could get to.

Mike hated to wear suits. He had to wear one for Will's funeral, and another for Nancy's wedding. And now for his first day of work in the real world. He didn't get it. They hired him for what he could do in his head, not for how he looked. He shook his head, he just didn't get the business world. Everybody would be much happier if they could dress the way they wanted.

Mike walked to the bus stop. The sun was out and it looked like the snow might be melting a little. It was getting a little slushy on the sidewalks.

He got to the bus shelter. It was empty. It made him wonder if he'd missed the bus because he was too late. He looked at his watch, 8:00 AM. He shrugged and opened up his book.

"Good morning!" It was a bright cheery voice. Ugh, Mike thought. We've got ourselves a talker.

Mike looked up.

And he was almost knocked off his feet when he saw her eyes.

Her hand went immediately to adjust her slouchy hat, and she grabbed the edge of the bus shelter entrance.

"I think we both may have missed the bus." Mike said.

"No, this bus gets here at eight-one-five." She said carefully.

"Eight fifteen? Ok guess I'm in luck then. I'm new to the city. I thought for sure I'd missed it."

Mike watched her open her baggy purse. Searching for her bus pass probably.

"Damn." She said frustrated.

"Forget your bus pass, I've got change if you need it."

She looked up at him. Something in her eyes, "that's very kind of you, oh" she looked back down into her purse, and pulled out her pass, held it up for him to see.

"Found it, " she gave him a smile amplified by the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen.

Mike was not prepared for that. He felt dizzy and leaned against the bus shelter.

"What's wrong?" she looked a bit worried at him.

Mike cleared his throat. Screw it, he was going to say it, "you have a nice smile." He felt himself turning red.

She looked down into her purse, looked up at him wide eyed and took a deep breath, "why thank you Bus Stop stranger. It's not often I…. oh, damn it all."

Mike's eyebrows raised.

"I forgot my store keys and I open this morning. I'm never going to make it back to my friends apartment and back before the bus gets here." She huffed.

"I see the bus is coming, no, you're not going to make it back in time." Mike had been half hoping he'd get to sit or stand with her in the bus. That hope was dashed.

"I'd better get going then, have yourself a nice day." She smiled at him, spun on her heel and walked off.

As the bus slowed to a stop, he saw something glinting in the snow where she'd been standing. He bent down to pick it up.

It was a set of keys with a strange key chain, a miniature Eggo waffle with the number 11 engraved on it. Has to be her keys, Mike thought. She's too far away for me to call her back. I'll ask about them tomorrow morning, if she's here. If not, I'll give them to the bus driver, they have a much better way of finding owners of lost items.

Mike got on the bus, he was the only person on it. He flashed his pass to the bus driver who nodded, and Mike took a seat near the side door farther back.

It was about a half hour ride to the building where he'd be working. It looked like an older part of town that was undergoing urban renewal. The high rise building looked completely out of place.

Across the road was what looked like a coffee place, he didn't catch the name, but maybe he'd go there for lunch and get a tea and muffin or something.

He got out, and used his security card to get into the building. Yup, this high tech building was definitely out of place in this part of town.

He walked up to the reception desk and showed his security card. "I'm looking for the Code Cruncher's office?"

"Eleventh floor," the blonde receptionist said with a plastic smile. There was a security guard standing nearby giving Mike a wary look.

Try not to look paranoid, he thought to himself. You work here.

He stepped off the elevator and started looking for the office door that matched his security card, once he found it, swiped and walked in. He immediately thought he had the wrong office when he went up to the reception desk there and the woman behind it was wearing a sweater and a pair of jeans.

"I guess you are the new guy." She said.

"Mike Wheeler. This is Code Crunchers right?"

"This is it, let me take you to your office." She got up from around her desk and led him down a hall way to an office.

It was completely empty. With the exception of one folding chair.

"Um, seems to be missing a few items?" Mike looked back at her.

"Yeah about that. We believe here at Code Crunchers that the more comfortable you are the better you will work. Most companies have not figured that out yet."

"I don't mind sitting on that chair, but usually some kind of desk with a computer is how I'll do my best work."

The woman laughed, "You get to pick anything you need, for the way you work, money is not really an issue here. She handed him a pad and a pen. "The boss will be here any minute, make a list."

Mike was determined to make a good impression, so he made two lists, one that had everything he needed to get started. And one that went overboard with the quality.

He was just finishing up when another tall blond woman wearing a sweater and jeans walked into his office, "pro tip? Lose the suit. Wear what you want."

Mike stood up to shake her hand, "I like this place already."

"We all get along here. No office politics. Office romance, well me and the woman you met earlier are off limits. Totally. Other than that you own your own for heartbreaks."

Mike couldn't believe what he'd just heard. It must have shown on his face because she said, "weren't expecting that were you?"

"I thought it would be little more on the stuffy side… office computers and all that." he said.

"We're all programmers here. As long as you have results at the end of each week, I don't care what hours you work. Everyone here is ok with that… are you?"

"You had me at _l__ose the suit_"

The woman laughed, "that's what I like to hear. There's coffee place across the street if you need to clear your mind. Good people over there. Watch for the redhead though, don't give her any shit."

Mike worked with her to finalize all the equipment he would need.

"You might as well go over there for lunch and stay the afternoon while your office is built, They won't mind, but I want your approval near the end of the day. You ok with that?"

"My boss just told me to go have coffee for the afternoon. I'm ok with that. Thanks. Can I use a phone?"

"You can use Lisa's out front"

Mike made his call, and then left the office to get a nibble across the street.

The street had a lot of foot traffic but not a lot of cars. He walked across the street to the coffee place.

"Bean There Read That" was the sign on the door.

When Mike walked in he heard the soft jingle of a bell, and took immediate notice of three things. First, the smell of dark strong coffee was everywhere. He was sure if he knelt down and sniffed the wood floors, they would smell like coffee also.

Second, this was also a used book store. "_Bean There Read That_. Ok I get it," Mike said to himself. There were tables were you could sit and read while having your coffee.

And the third thing, and what riveted Mike's attention to the counter, was the girl with the pretty eyes from the bus stop was behind the counter. He would have recognized those eyes in a crowd of millions

When she saw him, she ran her hand over her hair. Mike saw that she kept her hair really short. _Really_ short. She looked sad or frustrated, Mike wasn't quite sure which.

He saw the redhead that he was _warned_ about. She leaned in, leaned in _close_ and whispered something in the pretty girl's ear.

Oh.

Ah, they were together. Mike sighed. As Zathras would have said, "Not the One"

He went up to the counter and said, "what in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue?"

She blasted a smile at him, "great song! Ignore me, remember I couldn't find my keys this morning at the bus stop? Well, I couldn't find them at Zoomer's place either. The red-head looked over at her and smiled. "Now I have to get a few locks replaced."

"Maybe I can help you with that." Mike said, and put his hand in his pocket.

"See, Eleven? A locksmith shows up just when you need one."

Great. Mike thought. They pet names for each other. Zoomer and Eleven. They've been together a while. Eleven… wait a minute…

"Um, could you describe your keys?"

She frowned at him, "If you saw the keychain you couldn't miss it. It looks like miniature Eggo waffle with the number Eleven engraved on it."

Mike pulled out the keys. "That looks just like these."

Her eyes went really wide. And then she smiled at him. The smile could have toasted marshmellows at a hundred yards. The smile was for _him_.

"Where did you find them?"

"I think when you pulled them out when you took out your bus pass. We didn't see or hear them hit the snow. I noticed them just before I got on the bus, but you were too far away to call back."

"Well sir, your coffee today is free."

"Uh, It's Mike. Let me guess, they call you El for short?"

"No they don't, but you can." And he was given another smile. This one would have burnt toast at a hundred yards.

"I, uh don't drink coffee, don't really like it, how about two chai teas black?"

"You have not tried my coffee then, I'm a real barista, not just one of those cash register girls that call themselves that. But two chai teas coming up, you can pick them up over at the end of the counter."

Mike sidestepped to let the next customer at the counter and walked to the end of the counter.

The redhead was busy, but finally came over and called out his order."

When he stepped out, he said "that's me."

She looked taken aback. She turned and said, "Eleven, these teas are for the rock star?"

Eleven looked at the redhead, and winked at both Mike and the redhead, "Yes, Zoomer, two teas for _that_ rock star."

Mike found a cozy table for two between bookshelves by a window.

He had just gotten comfortable in the chair when Eleven came over. She put a plate on the table in front of him. "My _muff-_in is on the house too." Her round eyes twinkled him.

"Um, my office is being equipped this afternoon, is it ok if I spend a bit of time here?"

"People can read here all day if they want. You saved me a lot of running around today, so your tea is free all day.".

As she walked away, he couldn't help but sneak a quick peek at her bum. Jeez… nice. Unavailable, but nice.

When Eleven the Barista got back to the counter, he heard her talking to the redhead "Zoomer" in a low voice, "You did NOT!" the redhead said in a loud voice.

The two girls were still giggling when Nancy came in through the front door. She looked around and when her eyes scanned the room, Mike waved her over.

Nancy sat down smelled the tea and closed her eyes. "Oh that tea smells great." She put her hands around the mug to warm them up and took a quick sip.

"Oh this place is a gem, how did you find it?"

"It's across the street from the building I work at, " he indicated across the street.

"Ooh, convenient. Not to mention the cute staff who works here, one of them is making her way here now…"

Mike turned his head to see Eleven making her way towards their table. Her eyes were glowing. It was the only way he could think of describing them.

But when Eleven saw Nancy, he could see that her eyes just _shut down._ A worried frown accompanied those eyes. She looked like she'd just received some really bad news. Mike felt sorry for her. She turned away, her head slumped a little.

She was sad, her body language gave it away. She looked completely crushed.

"Shit, look at the time. I have to go." Nancy got up kissed Mike on the head and hurried out. He didn't even get the chance to say bye, but smiled after her as she left.

His attention turned to Eleven. He couldn't help himself and got up and walked over to the counter.

As he approached she looked panicked, the redhead said something and stepped in front of her to face him.

"Can I help you sir?"

Mike looked at Eleven entering an Employees Only door.

It was 'sir' now. "Is she ok?" he said concerned.

"No." The redhead said simply.

"Um, ok. Well I hope she feels better soon." Mike looked down and turned to go back to his table.

Maybe those two were having a bit of a tiff.

He didn't see her for the rest of the afternoon. He was feeling a bit down. He hadn't really stopped thinking about her since this morning.

Mike gave a deep sigh and got up to head back across the street. The last thing he wanted to do today.

What he _wanted_ to do was look into her eyes forever.

Eleven.


	2. Bus Stops Bus Goes (part II)

El was staring at the ceiling when the alarm went off. The first word out of her mouth was, "shit."

She hadn't slept and she was still tired. She didn't have to think back on the psychology classes she took to know why. She was depressed. And she didn't need her psychology degree to know why she was depressed.

She was lonely.

It didn't seem to make any difference how friendly she was to guys, or how much she flirted with them, they didn't bite. The seemed to have no interest in her whatsoever. She ran her hand over her head. It was probably the hair. It hadn't grown at all since she escaped the lab. Guys wanted girls with blonde hair and big boobs and she had neither.

She sighed. She would let Max sleep, but she had to get up, she was opening the shop this morning and in between customers she was going to try and figure out that spreadsheet program.

And then there was the apartments. She hadn't been able to convince Max yet. El had tried to tell her it would be fun. She shook her head and threw off the covers to get ready for the day. She didn't want to miss the bus.

It wasn't very cold outside, but she always dressed warm. She hated being cold. She _hated_ it.

She had a nice fleece lined pea coat she really liked. She'd wear that today.

Other than the fact that no guy seemed to be interested in her for a hundred miles around, she was feeling better as she walked to the bus stop with the sun on her face.

There was someone at the bus shelter already. Not _just_ someone. A gorgeous someone. Which famous rock band and let this guy out of their sight?

She used her _your my favourite customer _voice said good morning.

At first she wished she hadn't. The look he gave her was more than slightly annoyed.

But then the way the way he looked at her changed, it changed in a way that made knees weak and she had to grab the the edge of the bus shelter.

Dark, intelligent eyes looked at her from under his mop of corkscrew hair. Why couldn't she find a guy who looked like _that_. Her hand adjusted her slouchy hat to make sure her hair wasn't showing.

"I think we both may have missed the bus." He said.

"No, this bus gets here at eight-one-five." She said carefully completely unsure of herself now and falling back on her old speech patterns.

"Eight fifteen? Ok guess I'm in luck then. I'm new to the city. I thought for sure I'd missed it."

She couldn't keep looking at him, she would collapse in a pile of jelly if she did. She opened up her purse and pretended to look for her bus pass. And then she didn't have to pretend, she was disoriented and couldn't find it right away.

"Damn." She said frustrated.

"Forget your bus pass, I've got change if you need it."

She looked up at him. He was offering to pay her bus fare?

"That's very kind of you, oh" she looked back down into her purse when she felt the familiar case she used for her cards and pulled it out. She held it up for him to see.

"Found it, " she gave him a smile. This was not the smile for customers, this was her _if you ask nicely I will take you home_ smile. She was being a flirt again throwing herself at a guy. She didn't care. She really had nothing to lose.

He looked a little unstable on his feet and leaned up against the bus shelter.

"What's wrong?" she looked a bit worried at him.

He cleared his throat, and then said something she was not expecting. Something she never expected to hear again… poor Benny.

"You have a nice smile." She could see him blushing. He was shy! A guy who looked like that being shy was a rarity. It almost look like he was scared to pay her a compliment.

She looked down into her purse, she didn't think she could look into those eyes again without serious consequences. She was suddenly unsure of herself again. She looked up at him trying to keep calm and took a deep breath, "why thank you Bus Stop stranger. It's not often I…. oh, damn it all."

"I forgot my store keys and I open this morning. I'm never going to make it back to my friends apartment and back before the bus gets here.." She huffed.

"I see the bus is coming, no, you're not going to make it back in time." He had been looking at her earnestly. She was sort of hoping she'd get to sit with him on the bus. That was no longer going to happen

"I'd better get going then, have yourself a nice day." She gave him a quick smile, and left before he could see the disappointment on her face.

She felt a slight stinging of tears on her face. She would probably never see him again, and she felt the pang of a lost opportunity.

El, could you really have pictured yourself with him tonight? Well, no she thought to herself. I don't do one night stands despite all my bravado flinging myself at guys. But… I could picture myself with him for the rest of my life.

Her psychology professor told her that she had an uncannily accurate judgement of people, usually within the first few seconds of meeting them. He also said that he would recommend her for a position in one of the alphabet companies. Her choice.

Her gut instinct told her that this guy would have been true. He would never cheat on her, never lie to her… and love her unconditionally.

And she had lost him to the city. Shit.

When she got back to Max's place she had to knock. A sleepy Max answered the door. El brushed past her, "looking for my stupid keys."

"Well, don't toss the place any more than it already is… I'm going back to bed for another hour."

Max's apartment was a mess. If her keys had been dropped somewhere they shouldn't be, El would never find them.

She _did_ find Max's keys though, she put them on the key hanger by the door and continued searching.

She searched for an hour with no luck. Max finally walked out in her pj's scratching her head. "Ugh, I feel gritty, I'm hopping in the shower."

"I found yours but I still can't find mine. Looks like we're going to open late today. We'll give free coffee to our regulars."

Max smiled her her, "you are always thinking of your regulars. You know the business is losing money right?"

"And you know it doesn't matter so I don't care… right?"

Max nodded, "you are a wonder El. I've never met anyone like you. There is some lucky guy out there that's never gonna know what hit him when you come along."

El looked down, "I wish, Max…"

Max came forward and put her hand on her arm," you'll find someone El. Maybe you should break your one night stand rule."

She looked sharply up at Max, "not going to happen Max."

Max stepped back and held up her hands, "I know, I know. I won't mention it again. I'll take a shower and we'll go in together..."

XXXXX

As Max was fiddling with her keys in the lock.

"I'm going to have to get all the locks changed. Including your apartment locks. What a pain in the ass." El said as she was looking across the street.

Big stupid glass and steel high rise. It's only redeeming feature was that it reflected the sunset off this side, and now this side of the shop got to see it. She had been surprised when her business had picked up, more walk in traffic, and of course almost everybody who worked in the building was a customer.

She kept the prices very low so people wouldn't go elsewhere figuring she would make up the difference in volume.

But like Max said they were losing money. Not a ton, and the business would never go under, that was guaranteed. Thank you HNL, and screw you at the same time. At least that place had been good for something.

As Max opened the door and started turning on lights, she said, "too bad your abilities didn't include finding stuff."

"Even if it did… Zoomer, you know I couldn't use them to make money." El had switched to their "business personalities" now that they were in the shop.

"I'm going back to the computer." El said.

"You know if we ever get a power outage, you're going to lose all those numbers and have to re-enter all that? You really need to figure out how to save that spreadsheet. And make a backup."

She gave Max a look, "I know what you're going to say next. No, I'm not going to hire some nerd to teach me. Remember what happened last time."

"He was smart, but too much of a nerd, he couldn't stop looking down your top."

El snorted, "for all there was to see. You know he kept staring at your ass when you weren't looking."

"He was staring at yours too Eleven." Max smiled. El rolled her eyes and went into the back office.

Max had just gotten the float from the safe and went out to put it into the cash register when she heard heard soft tinkle of the bell they had attached to the door.

She heard Max call out, "the square root of Lisa is here if you want to say hi."

El went out to greet the one of the Lisa's. It was the statuesque blonde. If they ever needed to cast an Amazonian warrior in a Hollywood movie, this girl would be a good candidate.

"Hi Lisa… how's Lisa?" She was referring to her girlfriend, together her and Max called them 'Lisa Squared" with each one being the square root. El thought the joke was maybe a little cerebral for the blonde, until she found out she was a programmer in the building across the street. " Code Crusher's or something. And she was one of the nicest girls she'd ever met. Sure she loved Max, but Max could be a bit prickly at times. Lisa… both Lisa's were beautiful and smart. And as it turned out, really good judges of people like El was herself.

"New guy is starting to day," Lisa said. "I've looked over work he submitted when he applied. Guy is a genius. He could work at any software company, Lisa and I are going to be lucky if he sticks around."

"Of course, he's not my type, but I'll send him over, you can give me your professional opinion."

El frowned, "my professional opinion?"

"As a barista, if he doesn't like coffee… a programmer who doesn't like coffee… almost unheard of."

Lisa took her order and turned to go, "oh, and you might think he's cute. Just don't sleep with him on the first night. Nobody is worth that."

After she left El turned to Max, "Ugh, am I looking or sounding that desperate these days?"

"Kinda," Max said. It must have shown on her face because Max looked worried and said, "Don't worry Jane, sorry 'Eleven' you'll find somebody. And somebody who's not a complete wasteoid."

El was about to go back into the office when the bell on the door gave off it's soft peel. The coffee machines were starting to fill the room with that heavenly scent. El knew that the books they were selling had two things going for them. They had absorbed some of that coffee smell, but more importantly They smelled like old second hand books, and you really couldn't explain that to someone who didn't like to read, or didn't collect books. Her customers appreciated it and her regulars were scared to death she'd close up the shop because her and Max couldn't make a go of it.

El smiled to herself. She had a secret weapon though… no, not _that_ one. But in a way related to it. The shop would _never_ close.

When the door closed, her eyes were drawn to his. She ran her hand over her head. Why won't my hair grow longer! She was frustrated, and a little sad now. He'd seen her without her hat. Her uncovered head was visible for all to see. She didn't care about the rest of the world, right now she only really cared what _he_ thought.

He had a slightly amused look on his face as Max came over to her and whispered in her ear.

"Can you excuse me? I want to go over and have sex with that guy right now. I mean right now. Unless you want to first? I'll be second if that's the case."

El was about to laugh when she saw the look on the guys face. It went completely neutral. Maybe a hint of sadness in it. El was having a hard time reading this guy, which was a totally new experience for her.

It must have shown on her face because when he came up to the counter and said, "what in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue?"

She couldn't help herself and gave him a big smile, and was scrambling to think of a reason that didn't sound lame, "great song! Ignore me, remember I couldn't find my keys this morning at the bus stop? Well, I couldn't find them at Zoomer's place either. The red-head looked over at her and smiled. "Now I have to get a few locks replaced."

"Maybe I can help you with that." He said, and put his hand in his pocket.

"See, Eleven? A locksmith shows up just when you need one." Max said

Several emotions played out on his beautiful face. "Um, could you describe your keys?"

She frowned at him, "If you saw the keychain you couldn't miss it. It looks like miniature Eggo waffle with the number Eleven engraved on it." There was no way this guy would have found those keys.

Mike pulled out the keys. "That looks just like these?"

The only smile El could give him now was her _I will be your friend forever smile._

Maybe more if he wanted. "Where did you find them?"

"I think when you pulled them out when you took out your bus pass. We didn't see or hear them hit the snow. I noticed them just before I got on the bus, but you were too far away to call back."

"Well sir, your coffee today is free."

"Uh, It's Mike. Let me guess, they call you El for short?"

Only her dad called her El. Even in front of Max. Max called her Jane outside of the shop, and 'Eleven' when they were working.

El's defenses were crumbling one by one, "no they don't, but you can." And she gave him another smile. This one was a new one for her.

It would probably be her _I could love you smile_. Please she thought to herself. Just ask, or show some kind of interesting.

"I, uh don't drink coffee, don't really like it, how about two chai teas black?"

"You have not tried my coffee then, I'm a real barista, not just one of those cash register girls that call themselves that. But two chai teas coming up, you can pick them up over at the end of the counter."

El was a little miffed he wouldn't be able to taste her coffee. She was always complimented on her barista skills.

'Mike' sidestepped to let the next customer to the counter and walked to the end of the counter.

She dealt with the next person in line. It might be a busy day after all.

Max called out to her, "Eleven, these teas are for the rock star?"

Eleven looked at the Max , and winked at both her and Mike, "Yes, Zoomer, two teas for _that_ rock star." El's heart was hammering.

He went to a table that nobody liked to sit at. The one between bookshelves by a window.

Ok, I'm going to throw myself at him. Let's get this over with now.

El got a napkin and a blueberry muffin and walked over to the table for two She put a plate on the table in front of him. "My _muff-_in is on the house too." This time she didn't smile, but her eyes said. _I will let you do me in the back room._

And he didn't bite. Not even a little bit. He didn't look embarrassed he didn't say anything suggestive back to her, just, "Um, my office is being equipped this afternoon, is ok if I spend a bit of time here?"

El put on her shop voice. "People can read here all day if they want. You saved me a lot of running around today, so your tea is free all day.".

El went back to behind the counter, "he took a look at your ass when you walked away. I believe I saw a sign of approval."

"Interesting, I wonder if it had anything to do with telling him my muff was free for him all day."

Max looked genuinely shocked, "You did NOT!"

El giggled, "I did, but it didn't take. I actually said _muff_-in, but if he noticed he did a good job of now showing it."

"Wow, you are pulling out all the stops today. What's your gut telling you about this guy?"

"That's just it Max, I can't get a read on him. Oh. He said his office was being worked on this afternoon, do you think he's the guy Lisa sent over? And no Max, I don't do one night stands. I was just flirting. A lot, stomach has butterflies. I don't know what I would have done if he had gone for it. Would have been disappointing. Ok now I'm second guessing myself, I'm going to go over and apologize." El started to make her way keeping her smile on her face.

She saw the girl. She looked a little older than Mike, but she could see how they looked at each other. They'd known each other a long time. A _long_ time.

Childhood sweetheart, she thought. El used to cry herself to sleep knowing that she could never have had a childhood sweetheart, because she hadn't had any childhood.

El stopped where she was. He was off limits. There's no way she would let him cheat on this girl, because she'd never know if he would cheat she on El herself. No. You stayed away from guys who cheated. They were bad news. You'd be paranoid at every girl you saw that he noticed.

El felt low. The rest of the day was going to be pretty bad. She watched the floor made her way behind the counter. When she turned around the girl was gone, and Mike was making his way over to the counter, she panicked, "I've got this," Max said, "Go back to the office."

This time the stinging in her eyes resulted in hot tears painting her face with sorrow. She rushed to the back room.

El stayed there the entire afternoon.

Max came back after a few hours, and said "he's been gone for awhile. What happened?"

"He has a girlfriend."

"That brunette? That could have been anybody."

El looked up at Max with her tear streaked face. "Do you really think so?"

"Friends Don't Lie, Jane. No, I don't think so. But they didn't hold hands or kiss, so I don't know."

El cleaned up in their private bathroom, and went back out to the counter. She saw from the reflection on the windows of the high rise that the sun was starting to set.

No sooner had she done a little arranging on the counter when the bell ringing sounded.

Shit. It was Mike and he quickly made his way to the counter.

"I wanted to come in before I caught my bus to see if you were ok." He gave her a smile that made her stomach catch fire.

"I'm fine sir."

Geez, El, could you be any more bitchy to him? He has has as girlfriend, that's it. It's not like he cut up your clothes with a butcher knife. And it's not like you couldn't still be friends with him.

"Sir? Uh, ok" He his smile ended, and he looked down and turned to go. Halfway to the door he said brightly, "maybe I'll catch you at the bus stop tomorrow morning?"

"No, I don't think so."


	3. Bus Stop Icy Day (I)

"No, I don't think so."

She watched him press his lips together, give a defeated nod and turn to leave.

El waited till the front door closed before she burst into tears.

A few customers raised their head to see what was wrong, and Max came running out of the back office.

"What did he say to you?" Max looked positively pissed.

"N-nothing. I was being a queen size bitch to him. Can I stay at your place again tonight? I want to apologize to him at the bus stop tomorrow morning."

Max smirked. "Sure. One condition. You find out one way or another if that was his girlfriend. If it was, you really need to get over the guy you only met this morning. Cute or not, there is no way you could have any feelings for him. You guys haven't even talked. You don't know if that was the same guy Lisa was talking about. Or if he's a player. Or an axe murderer. You know nothing about him other than he likes chai tea. Am I making any kind of sense here?"

El lowered her head and nodded. Max was right. But… there was something about him. She was drawn to him. It wasn't just his looks. El liked to think that she wasn't that shallow. At the very least that she wasn't that desperate, only frustrated and her self-confidence had taken a little bit of a hit.

They closed a little earlier. And waited outside the front door at the bus stop. It had started to rain a bit.

"Think we should open a bottle of wine tonight?" Max asked her when they sat down on the bus.

"You know I get weepy when I'm a little tipsy. And I do not want to face Mike with a hangover and try to apologize. You told me I'm a little grumpy when I have one."

"A little grumpy? Doesn't quite cover it Jane." Max laughed.

Once they got to Max's apartment, she immediately flopped down on the sofa. Max brought out two wine glasses and a bottle of Shiraz.

"Ugh, Max that stuff gives me a headache, " El complained.

"And it also gives you a good buzz. I'll make sure you are up in time to bare your soul to Mike. If he's even there tomorrow."

"You're not helping Max."

The next morning, El was up early, and she was at the bus stop an hour earlier than she needed to be. She hoped Mike wasn't one of those last minute people running down a bus and he would be there so she had time to talk to him.

It was another sunny day, but this one was on the cool side so the snow that melted yesterday made all the sidewalks an icy enough to skate on. But she was looking forward to seeing Mike again. Apologizing for her behaviour the previous day seemed like it would be a little less awkward than it had last night. She surprised herself last night by not getting weepy with Max, and was not hungover today. Her and Max had a good time last night with girl talk. Mike's name had only come up a few dozen or so times until Max started to roll her eyes at the mention.

She had layered up and today she wore her red plaid lumberjack hat. That was probably the reason that Mike hadn't noticed her when he walked into the bus shelter. He turned to face the street, and his book came out of his messenger bag.

He took no notice of her whatsoever. That kind of says it all doesn't it El? She thought that obviously she didn't have the looks that stood out for him. Her mood fell a bit. Better to get this over with now while I'm still brave enough.

"Good morning." She said trying her best cheerful voice, but he barely looked at her and returned her greeting over his shoulder.

Mike didn't look at her at all.

"I'm sorry about my aloofness yesterday afternoon." She persevered.

This time he did turn around to look at her and he put his hand out to the bus shelter glass wall to steady himself.

"And I'm sorry I didn't actually look at you, because there's no way I would miss those eyes if I had."

She felt a little punch-drunk. Did he just compliment her on her eyes? Yesterday he said she had a had a nice smile. She thought that it wasn't being that forward if that brunette was his girlfriend. You were still allowed to compliment people these days without it being creepy. In the future who knows, it would probably be considered sexual harassment. Stranger things had happened.

"Um, what are you apologizing for?"

'I was rude to you when I told you I was ok and that I wouldn't be here this morning." she said looking down.

"I won't lie to you, I thought you'd gone a bit formal considering you gave me free tea and baked goods all day… and were um, exuberant the entire day. Nancy was looking forward to asking you how you made that great tasting tea. I get the feeling she wants to start making it herself."

At the mention of his girlfriend, El's stomach fell and her ok mood was now gone entirely . Well, shit. There it is folks. Gorgeous rock star hunk who is also a considerate nice guy is already taken. Just my luck. No wonder he has no interest in me. Better get the rest of the apology out.

"Yes, about her, I would be very grateful if you didn't tell-" Suddenly out of nowhere two people were in the bus stop and she had to stop. She didn't want them to overhear the embarrassing thing she was going to say next.

No sooner had she stopped talking, when the bus hissed to a stop. Mike let the two new arrivals get on first, and gestured that she should go on ahead of him.

She headed towards the bus, and two things happened in a flash, she saw the toes of her boots almost even with her shoulders as she slipped, and the thought that she was going to be sore once she landed on the hard ice. That was if she didn't crack her skull open or break her neck.

But her heels slammed down on the ice, and her body hadn't fallen at all. She was being held up by someone who must have moved like lightning and had a lot of upper body strength. It almost seemed like she was held in mid air. It had happened so fast she didn't think her abilities would have saved her from a fall that would have really hurt.

There was a strong arm around her waist… and one firmly holding on to her ass.

She turned around to tell whoever that they could let go of her butt now, and saw Mike's extremely red face.

"Uh, I'm um, I'm sorry. I grabbed what I could when I saw you slip." It wasn't possible for him to get any redder, El thought. But he did and he didn't meet her eyes.

Oh, she thought, he's really embarrassed, poor guy. Make him feel at ease.

"It's ok Mike. I think you saved me a trip to the emergency room." If having Mike's hand on her bum was the worst thing that happened to her today she'd count herself a lucky girl. She still needed to apologize for her muffin comment yesterday. It was inappropriate and starting to eat away at her now.

Besides El, he's probably mortified that he touched a girl's bottom that was _not_ his girlfriend's. Given his reaction, he'd probably always be faithful to _Nancy_. Arrgh! Where do I find a guy like that?

She got to sit close to him on the bus, but he kept his eyes averted the entire time. She didn't want to make him feel any worse so they rode in a mostly comfortable silence.

The bus stopped in front of the shop and they both got off.

"Um, Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come by at lunch or after work. I need to tell you something."

He looked a little confused but said, "sure, I'll make a point of coming by, when do you close?"

"If the door is locked, knock ok?"

"Sure thing. Have a good day, El."

When he said her name, she felt warm and fuzzy. Oh El, you are going to have to get over this guy, you are already in way too deep. She couldn't help it though. It was beginning to bother her a lot.

Max had shown up a little later after El opened, and soon, the other Lisa showed up. Max called back to the office, "Eleven, the other square root of Lisa is here."

El came out to say hi, and turned back to the office paused and turned back to Lisa the receptionist. "Um, what's the name of the guy who started there yesterday? Lisa said he was smart."

"Ah, that would be Mike Wheeler. I should introduce you, you'd like him, smart, nice guy. At the very least you could always watch the way he fills his jeans.

El turned red, but then looked down. "I don't think his girlfriend would approve."

"Girlfriend? Oh, sorry Eleven, I didn't know. You could still try you know…" Lisa said.

El shook he head, "No. He won't cheat on her. I'm sure of that. He's not the type."

Lisa didn't argue, she knew that El was an excellent judge of people. Sometimes that particular gift was a curse.

Mike didn't come in for lunch. Or right after work. El kept coming out of the back office to see if maybe he'd forgotten and had gotten on the bus eager to get back home. Or back to his girlfriend.

Finally right after sunset the door jingled. It was Mike, and despite the situation, her heart soared. He looked up at her and gave her a smile that made her a little weak.

"Sorry I'm late." He said, "Still getting oriented over there. Oh my table is free."

El felt light headed when he referred to that table as his. "Would you like a tea?"

"If it's not too late?"

He had a largish leather bag that he said between his chair and the wall, and took of his jacket. Good he was planning on staying a bit.

El made a tea for herself, and brought them both over and sat opposite him.

"Ok, what I didn't get to finish this morning before I tried to fly into the bus." And she saw him turn red again.

"Um, I'm still sorry about that. No regrets but I don't know you well enough to put my hands on your butt."

El almost let it slip that he could do it anytime, but thought that discretion was the better part of valour.

Mike looked puzzled. "So, um, yeah, you said you'd be grateful if I didn't tell… and then we were rudely interrupted by other people who wanted to get on the same bus… the nerve."

El giggled. Then managed to get serious again, she looked down and said, "I'd be grateful if you didn't tell your girlfriend what I said yesterday when brought over the… uh… baked goods."

She figured there were too possibilities for Mike's reaction. One, that he would wave it off and say _forget it_. Another that he'd be really crude and make some kind of suggestive comment equaling hers, she didn't think he would though. But there was a third possibility that she'd hadn't really considered.

He looked extremely confused and embarrassed at the same time.

"Girlfriend? Um, I don't have a girlfriend." Once again he wouldn't meet her eyes.

"Didn't you say her name was Nancy, she'd like my recipe for chai tea?"

El thought her heart would altogether stop pumping when he replied.

"Um, Nancy is my sister."

"Sister?"

"Yeah, she's a little older than me. We used to fight like cats and clichés when we were kids."

El thought she would start crying on the spot. She didn't know what to say or do now. He caught her off guard when he completely changed the subject and said, "uh, is that a shelf full of dictionaries?"

She smiled at him and said, "yes it is, I've read every one of them."

"Ah that explains aloofness."

El couldn't figure out what reading the dictionaries had to do with the way she treated him yesterday and it must have shown on her face.

"You used the word aloofness. I find people with really good vocabularies tend to use a wider range of words than us average folk do. I'm not making fun of you. Very few people will go through and entire dictionary on purpose. And to read all those" he referred to the shelf behind her. "… kind of impressive."

This time El blushed. Nobody had ever commented positively on the way she spoke, and she had worked very hard with her dad. She was proud of the words she knew,

El decided she wanted to get to know him. Know everything about what Mike Wheeler as a person was.

"So what exactly do you do over at Code Crushers?"

"Code Crunchers, um I hand optimize op-codes for assembly programs, so that when then are re-compiled by an assembler, they save cpu cycles and wait states."

"Are my eyes glazed over yet?" she smiled dreamily at him.

He laughed, "I make programs run faster. Every little bit helps until computers get more powerful."

She was sort of waiting for him to maybe ask her if she was free on any particular night. He hadn't made any indication during her conversation. She didn't get it. It was obvious that even though he had complimented her eyes, her smile, he wasn't interested. El's euphoria that finding out he didn't have a girlfriend had dissipated.

To hell with it, I'm going to ask, "Um, Mike… I don't think a girl is supposed to ask, but, do you think I'm pretty?

He had started to gather up his belongings, he paused slightly and looked at her. He got up, "um, sure El, and I think Max probably thinks so too. Uh, I have to catch my bus. See you tomorrow at the bus stop?"

He was just being friendly after all. Her PhD in psychology wasn't needed here.

"No, I don't think so."


	4. Bus Stop Icy Day (II)

"I'm fine sir."

"Sir? Uh, ok" He stopped smiling. Something's wrong he thought, maybe she got into trouble for giving away tea and food or being too friendly with customers. Some bosses were like that.

He looked down. I guess I'm done here. I wonder if I offered to pay for yesterday she'd be on good terms with her boss again? He stopped halfway to the door and turned around to do just that, but then changed his mind and said in the most upbeat voice he could manage, "maybe I'll catch you at the bus stop tomorrow morning?"

"No, I don't think so."

Hmmm, that was disappointing. He tried not to show it, but nodded a goodbye and left the shop.

What was it about her that he was finding so… he didn't know, compelling? He had a hard time looking into those eyes. They were beautiful, took his breath away almost every time she looked into his.

"You absolutely _have_ to get over her Mike," he said to himself. She. Is. Unavailable. And even if she was available she's certainly never going to be interested in me. A good platonic friendship was the best he could hope for.

Sure, logically I know all that. I can't seem to get El out of my mind. He also knew it was going to cause a problem with his work if he was daydreaming about her all the time.

When he got home to the apartment he and Lucas shared, he started to make dinner. Lucas would appreciate it after a long day of classes.

He was hand crushing some peppercorns when he heard a knock on the door. He frowned, grabbed a dish towel to wipe his hands, and went to answer it.

It was his boss Lisa. "Hey, Mike. Was going to be in the area, so I thought I'd drop these off to you, this is your laptop and modem."

"Come on in."

"Can't stay long, Lisa is waiting in the car. Say, have you met Max and Eleven yet?"

I've met Eleven. I didn't meet him."

"Max is short for Maxine, but nobody calls her that, she's the redhead. A K A Zoomer." Lisa air quoted for Mike.

"Ah, did she used to ride a skateboard or something?"

"Oh, so you have you met her?"

"Not officially, El didn't introduce me."

"El? She _never_ lets anyone call her that. Just her dad. You must have left quite an impression on her."

"I was just being myself."

Lisa looked at him. Smiled and nodded, "ok, gotta go, see you tomorrow.." She winked at him and left.

Mike closed the door and went back to the kitchen to carry on cooking.

A few minute later Lucas let himself in. Walked to the sofa and threw himself down on it.

"Don't let anyone ever tell you that accounting if fun."

"Accounting? I thought you were studying to be an architect?"

"It's a prerequisite, you don't graduate until you have it."

Mike shrugged, then said, "we really need to look for another apartment."

"Yeah, let's spend the weekend doing it until we find something. Not how I wanted to spend my weekend, but we also don't know the best street corner to live on either."

"So I met someone at the bus stop yesterday morning." Mike said casually.

"Oh?" Lucas raised his eyebrows.

"She's smart, nice, and pretty… oh, and totally taken already. You'd like Max, she's a redhead. Didn't you have a thing for redheads back in Hawkins?"

"Are you gonna bring that up again?"

"Well, you _did_ ask that girl to marry you."

"We were in _grade 4_ Mike, I don't think that counts."

"You didn't sound that way back then. Hmm, that's weird, wasn't her name Max also?"

"Yeah, short for Maxine but she didn't like anybody calling her that."

Mike stopped what he was doing. "Hmm, that's a strange coincidence? If it's the same girl, I'm sure I know why she turned you down."

"So if this girl is already taken, why are you obsessing about her? And don't give me that look. I know that look. You moped around all last night. You are about to do a two and a half gainer into a bowl full of hurt if you don't get over something that's never going to happen."

He sighed. Lucas was right. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her?

Mike didn't sleep all night. She was all he could think about. This is crazy he thought. Lucas is right.

He got up early to shower, but hung around the apartment until he had enough time to walk to the bus stop.

Some short dude in a lumberjack hat was already in the shelter. He ignored him turned to face the street and pulled out the book he was reading.

"Good morning." An overly cheerful voice said.

"Morning." Mike called over his shoulder, he wasn't interested in talking to another girl. Eleven obviously meant what she said when she didn't think she'd be here.

"I'm sorry about my aloofness yesterday afternoon."

Aloofness? Nobody says aloofness. He turned around to look.

Eleven. She looked so innocent and vulnerable underneath that hat with those big eyes. His heart fluttered. He wanted to give her a comforting hug. He almost put his arms out, but instead used one to steady himself from the gaze of those eyes. He wanted to keep her safe and warm. He couldn't explain it to himself. He went with something less dramatic. "And I'm sorry I didn't actually look at you, because there's no way I would miss those eyes if I had."

She looked a little dazed but didn't say anything. Her hand went to adjust her hat.

"Um, what are you apologizing for?"

'I was rude to you when I told you I was ok and that I wouldn't be here this morning." she said looking down.

"I won't lie to you, I thought you'd gone a bit formal considering you gave me free tea and baked goods all day… and were um, exuberant the entire day. Nancy was looking forward to asking you how you made that great tasting tea. I get the feeling she wants to start making it herself. Nancy would love that recipe."

El looked crestfallen when he said that. Maybe it was Max's recipe? He didn't mention that he thought her and Max might be having a fight. That always sucked if it was someone you had to be around for the entire day.

"Yes, about her, I would be very grateful if you didn't tell-" Suddenly out of nowhere two people were in the bus stop and she stopped talking. It must have been something private.

As soon as she stopped talking, the bus hissed to a stop. Mike let the two new arrivals get on first, and gestured that she should go on ahead of him.

She walked towards the bus door and Mike saw her slip. He didn't have time to think, he moved behind her and he had his right arm around her waist. His left hand reached under her and grabbed the inside of her thigh.

As soon as it felt like he'd saved her fall, Mike realized that his left hand and slipped up the inside of her thigh, all the way to her… bikini line… it was the way Mike was going to have to describe it to Max. His face was burning already.

El's weight shifted in his arms, and his left hand slid up to her left butt cheek and grabbed a hold there. He thought his face was on fire. He'd never be able to look into her beautiful eyes again.

El turned to him looking a little impatient.

"Uh… Uh, I'm um, I'm sorry. I grabbed what I could when I saw you slip." His face was a molten core of extreme embarrassment. He couldn't look at her.

"It's ok Mike. I think you saved me a trip to the emergency room." her face changed, to a bit of relief, then to worry.

She sat close to him on the bus, and while he was secretly thrilled, he still could not look at her. He enjoyed the closeness. A lot. Not helping, he sighed to himself.

The bus stopped in front of the shop and they both got off.

"Um, Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you come by at lunch or after work. I need to tell you something."

He was a little confused but said, "sure, I'll make a point of coming by, when do you close?"

"If the door is locked, knock ok?"

"Sure thing. Have a good day, El."

He was going to get to see her again! He was happy and sad at the same time. At some point he was going to have to stop because it was eating away at him.

He couldn't be with her. She would never be his girlfriend. What was it about her? There actual time talking was less than ten minutes, being in the same space was probably less than an hour. He couldn't help it. He was pretty sure he was falling in love with her. Maybe he already had. The twisting feeling in his stomach told him that was a foregone conclusion.

He entered the office building across the street, and went to his office, passing his boss Lisa's on the way.

"Hey," he heard her call out.

He stopped and backed up to her office, "what's up?"

"Soooo… what did you think of Eleven, you never said."

"She's nice, she gave me free tea yesterday, wasn't expecting that."

"That's it?"

"Is what it?"

"_ She's nice? _ that's all you have to say."

"She's already spoken for, Lisa. End of." Mike looked down, blushing slightly and went to his office.

A few minutes later the Lisa-prime as Mike was beginning to think of her came buy, and dropped a bag and a cup on his desk. "Coffee and donuts for the new guy, my treat."

"I don't drink coffee."

Lisa immediately shouted to Lisa-version-two, "Lisa, we have a problem. It seems like the new guy has already been taken over by aliens, and this one apparently doesn't like coffee."

She turned back to him, "_who_ doesn't like coffee?"

He held up his hand.

"Well, that's only because you haven't tried Eleven's"

"That's what El told me too."

Lisa looked shocked, "she let you call her El?"

"Why's that so surprising, " he got the feeling El was a bit of a mystery. There was something important he didn't know about her.

Mike worked through lunch, still orienting himself to their computer equipment.

The sun had gone down. Mike was wondering if the coffee shop was still open or what El wanted to tell him. It seemed important to her. It was unlikely that she would say anything about her and Max's relationship, if they were having trouble, or even breaking up entirely.

He put his laptop and modem in his messenger bag and left to go across the street.

He opened the door, smiled at the bell, and then looked over at El behind the counter and gave her a wide smile.

"Sorry I'm late." He said, "still getting oriented over there." He looked to where he sat yesterday afternoon, " Oh my table is free."

"Would you like a tea?"

"If it's not too late?"

He put his messenger bag down. That laptop had to weigh close to fifteen pounds. He took off his jacket and hung it over the back of the chair.

El brought over two teas and sat across the table from him.

It was going to be difficult from him to sit so close facing her… and _not_ think about leaning over and just kissing her. His stomach jumped. Kissing El.

Talking to her right now was going to be one of the hardest things he ever had to do.

"Ok, what I didn't get to finish this morning before I tried to fly into the bus." His face started to burn. Oh, was she going to bring _that_ up?

"Um, I'm still sorry about that. No regrets but I don't know you well enough to put my hands on your butt." He felt like his entire head was on fire.

He was confused. "So, um, yeah, you said you'd be grateful if I didn't tell… and then we were rudely interrupted by other people who wanted to get on the same bus… the nerve." He tried to make light of the ass-grabbing incident that morning.

El giggled. But then turned serious again, she looked down and said, "I'd be grateful if you didn't tell your girlfriend what I said yesterday when brought over the… uh… baked goods."

What was she talking about? He didn't have a girlfriend. He knew he had a red face again. He'd _never _had a girlfriend.

"Girlfriend? Um, I don't have a girlfriend." He couldn't look at her. What kind of loser has never had a girlfriend and was now in in twenties? Me. Mike thought.

"Didn't you say her name was Nancy, she'd like my recipe for chai tea?"

"Um, Nancy is my sister." Ah, El thought Nancy was his girlfriend. Ewww. Gross.

"Sister?" She looked bewildered.

"Yeah, she's a little older than me. We used to fight like cats and clichés when we were kids."

He couldn't be sure but it looked like El was going to start crying. He didn't want that. He knew she'd be a pretty crier, but he didn't want her to cry. Not over something he'd said.

He tried to change the subject. "uh, is that a shelf full of dictionaries?"

She smiled at him and said, "yes it is, I've read every one of them." He could tell she was proud of that fact.

"Ah that explains aloofness," he said.

She looked a bit confused.

"You used the word aloofness. I find people with really good vocabularies tend to use a wider range of words than us average folk do. I'm not making fun of you. Very few people will go through and entire dictionary on purpose. And to read all those" he referred to the shelf behind her.

"… kind of impressive."

El's cheeks turned pink. And then it was her turn to change the subject. "So what exactly do you do over at Code Crushers?"

"Code Crunchers, um I hand optimize op-codes for assembly programs, so that when then are re-compiled by an assembler, they save cpu cycles and wait states."

"Are my eyes glazed over yet?" she smiled at him. She looked a bit out of it. He could see she was contemplating something, about whether or not she should say something.

Then she said the last thing he was expecting. "Um, Mike… I don't think a girl is supposed to ask, but, do you think I'm pretty?

He had started to gather up his belongings. But stopped in his tracks and looked at her. El probably didn't even know that she had run her hand over her buzzed hair.

How could he tell her that she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen? How could he tell her she had the prettiest eyes he'd ever seen? Or how she had the prettiest smile he'd ever seen.

How could he tell her that he was was almost completely positive that he was in love with her, but he knew that her and Max were together and he knew she would never have any romantic feelings for him whatsoever.

Obviously he couldn't, but if she had any self-doubts he could maybe alleviate them? He got up, "um, sure El, and I think Max probably thinks so too. Uh, I have to catch my bus. See you tomorrow at the bus stop?" He had to leave. His heart hurt too much.

Her face went entirely blank.

"No, I don't think so."

What? Again? What did he say? He was thinking that he may never understand what went through a girl's mind. He'd only said that he thought Max would think she's pretty. Oh, maybe they were on the outs?

Well he wasn't any good at giving advice on relationships, having never had one himself.

Mike stood outside in the cold rain for a few minutes before the bus showed. He was soaked and he didn't care.

What he cared about was that he and El may never be friends.

And wasn't so sure that was a bad thing.


	5. Bus Stop, Wet Day (I)

Mike stood outside in the cold rain for a few minutes before the bus showed. He was soaked and he didn't care.

What he cared about was that he and El may never be friends.

And wasn't so sure that was a bad thing.

He still hadn't completely dried by the time he got to his and Lucas's apartment. He crossed paths with a pizza delivery guy in the hallway.

Lucas was just opening the pizza box when Mike entered.

"I figured neither one of us wanted to cook tonight." Lucas said as he put a slice on a paper place. Lucas obviously didn't want to do dishes either.

He took one look at Mike and rolled his eyes. "Oh, man… you have _got_ to get over her. You aren't even a thing and you are acting like you lost the only girl you've ever loved."

"I know."

"Maybe if you talk to her she can ease your mind… even if guys can't be together, you can still be friends. You gotta talk to her man."

Mike gave off a huge sigh, "yeah, you're right. Maybe I'll drop by there tomorrow night. Something tells me she won't be at the bus stop tomorrow morning. Not a good place to have a private conversation anyway. Either way it's going to be awkward for both of us."

Mike didn't sleep for the second night in a row. He was going to be a bag of shit tomorrow, he knew that, but it couldn't be helped. All he could think about was El.

He wouldn't have even called this a crush. It went way beyond that and he didn't know why. He'd never felt like this for anybody before.

He got up early to shower. Lucas had already left for classes. There was a light rain outside, so Mike took his umbrella to the bus stop, but he didn't use it. He figured he couldn't be any more miserable than he already was.

As he expected, El was not at the bus stop this morning. His heart fell a little. But maybe it was for the best.

Mike didn't remember the morning going by. At one point his boss Lisa came into his office while he was looking over some code on a monitor, and said, "you look like shit Mike. It's either the job or the heart. Which is it?"

"The heart."

"I figured. Is it going to be a problem with your work performance? I need to ask because we have deadlines."

"No this helps me take my mind off it. The work really isn't that hard."

"It was for me, that's why I hired you," she smiled at him. "Ok, but if it becomes an issue, talk to me ok?"

"I wouldn't leave you hanging, Lisa. Thanks."

At noon she went for a coffee and donut run across the street. The shop must have been busy because it was a little while before she came back. When she did she put a bag and paper cup on his desk.

"Chai tea, and an Eggo flavoured muffin… and uh, El would really _really_ like to talk to you before the shop closes today. Take off a little early, she's a nice girl so if you could do that as a courtesy there are all kinds of people that would be happy."

"She probably just wants to apologize again. I'll be honest Lisa, I'm going to have a hard time talking to her."

"I know Mike, please talk to her. It will do you good."

Mike nodded in agreement. Inside he was dreading talking to El. He would only hurt afterwards.

He tried not to think about it while he worked the rest of the afternoon.

When he couldn't put it off any longer, he gathered up his laptop and equipment and left the office. His boss was leaning over the counter talking to the other Lisa. They both looked at him and said "good luck." at the exact same time, they smiled at him and then giggled at each other. Mike shook his head. Those two were meant for each other.

As he opened the door to the coffee/book shop, he saw that the sign and been turned over to the 'closed' side.

There was no one else in the shop. El was behind the counter, giving him a smile that made his heart twinge.

"Sit at your table, I'll bring over some tea."

Mike was uncomfortable sitting across from her at this small table. It was too close. Meant for an intimate conversation. A conversation he was never going to have with her.

This was going to be painful.

"So…" El said, looking down and running her finger over the rim of her teacup. "We have something important to talk about. There's been a misunderstanding between us."

"I don't know El. I think everything is clear between us."

"Mike," she said sounding a little condescending to him. She hugged herself. "Yesterday I thought your sister was your girlfriend, so not everything is clear between us… I don't want to argue Mike. I want our first kiss to be special."

She leaned over and put her elbows on the table, her face forward, easily halving the distance between them.

Mike could have leaned in and kissed her so easily, but instead he pulled back a little and sat there numb, distinctly uncomfortable. What was she doing?

"Ahh, why would you even say that El? Obviously someone has been talking to you." He could barely talk, " I can't help the way I feel, but that's just a cruel joke. It's not fair to to me and definitely not to Max." He had to wipe his eyes, this was spinning the drain.

She was still smiling at him. She looked concerned for him, but she was giving him a beautiful smile. Her eyes were beacons of hope. He didn't understand any of it.

"Yes, about Max…" No sooner had she said her name when Max came out from the back office, she was dressed to the nines.

"Ok, Eleven I'm going to meet Lucas at the University library, you're ok to cleanup?"

"I'm good Zoomer, have a good time." El turned to Mike, "she's going out on a date with a school boyfriend from a town we used to live in."

"Boyfriend?" Mike was even more confused now.

"I thought you two were… I mean…"

"Mike… I love Max... like a sister. But we are not romantically involved. And I know that people get the wrong idea all the time. Two people in the last two days. With you being one of them. Customers do all the time."

Mike's heart was pounding. It was all beginning to feel surreal.

"But…"

"Mike."

"But, I saw…"

"Mike," she leaned forward another few inches. "Do you want to kiss me?"

He leaned forward to meet her halfway. He closed his eyes and gave her a soft kiss, lingering for a few seconds. He could taste her tears.

He pulled back slightly and saw the rivulets of tears from each eye.

"You are my first kiss Mike."

"Mine too, El. I, uh, don't want it to be the last."

She was about to run her hand over her hair, and Mike held it down gently on the table, he used his other hand to run _his_ hand over her hair. He palmed the back of her head, and gently pulled her forward to his face. He gave her a much more substantial kiss, for a little bit longer than the first time. She sighed against his mouth, "oh Mike."

"I wanted to do that the first day at the bus stop." he said.

El nodded. "Hold on a minute, I'm going to lock up. I don't want any interruptions while we talk."

She got up to lock the front door, and it looked like she was setting the alarm. A storm was brewing outside and the rain was coming down hard.

"Um, doesn't your boss complain if you open and close at all hours? Especially if it's dependent on the weather?" Mike nodded his head outside to the pounding rain.

"I _am_ the boss. This is my business. Customers have come to expect it. It's part of the charm of the store."

Mike's eyebrows raised. "Do you and Max own it together?"

"No, she is my best friend, but one of the things I learned in University was that you don't own a business with your best friend."

"You have a business degree?"

"PhD in psychology. You want to keep friends, you don't own a business with them, you don't rent from them, or buy from them. And vice versa. If they taught that in business classes, there'd be a lot fewer lawsuits between friends."

At that moment Mike realized he hadn't just kissed a pretty girl. She was intelligent, knowledgeable about the inner workings of people.

They saw a flash, and heard the sharp crack of thunder.

El shivered. "I hope the power doesn't go out."

"You don't want to be with me in the dark?" Mike joked.

"Oh, I do Mike. But not as much as I want my computer to stay running."

Mike was curious, "why's that?"

I have just started a spreadsheet with the business budget on it. And I don't want to lose it. If the computer loses power I have to restart."

"Just save the spreadsheet it'll l be there for when the power comes back on."

Her cheeks went pink. "I don't know how. We lost the manual, and the sales people at the computer store were not interested in training Max and I."

"Let's go take a look." Mike said.

El led him into the back room. Mike could see that the monitor was turned on. "You may want to turn off that monitor when you aren't using it, to prevent burn in."

"It will catch fire?" El looked worried.

"No, but the image of the spreadsheet may stay on the screen."

"I won't lose the spreadsheet?"

"No. ok, I see you're using Lotus 1-2-3, so slash F and then S will save. If you haven't saved it yet you will need to give it a name. How about 'BTRT dash Feb' for this month?"

"Can't we make it a longer name?"

"No, DOS is limited to an eight dot three filename. So you have to keep it to eight letters or less."

"Let me teach you some basics?"

"Please, I'll pay you."

"Um, no. I'm not letting my girlfriend pay… oh, uh, that was um, a little presumptuous of me."

"You want me to be your girlfriend?" She looked at him with those eyes, so innocent and hopeful. He looked down and nodded.

He managed to say, "more than anything El."

She moved into his arms, upturned her face to him, "ok, Mike. I'm yours. I won't break your heart. I promise." The lights flickered.

She kissed him, pulled back and smiled. "Ok, more later, train me computer nerd."

So Mike did. And El was a sponge, he would often refer back to things he'd mentioned earlier, and she had retained them. He did it several times with more and more complex topics, but she hadn't forgotten anything.

They heard the hiss of a bus stopping and then leaving.

"Ah, shit… uh sorry El, didn't mean to swear."

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, I just missed my bus. I don't have enough money on me for a cab, and no, I'm not borrowing any from you. I know the way, I could walk, but I'm guessing I'd be soaked in ten seconds flat if I was outside."

"Stay with me tonight."

"No, El. Not the first night of our relationship."

"I'm offering my sofa, silly, I'm _not_ sleeping with you tonight. Same reason."

"Then we both get soaked in ten seconds as soon as we step outside, assuming your apartment is even close."

"My apartment is upstairs."

"You're landlord lets you do that?"

"I _am_ the landlord. I own the building."

Mike was stunned. "Oh, um, ok."

"Government compensation. A story for later. I don't want to keep any secrets from you." El's face was the most serious he'd seen it in the few days he'd known her.

"Ok, I won't pry. When you're ready."

"Today was an exhausting day for me Mike. I need to sleep, I… I don't really like storms."

"Ok. We're done here anyway."

El led him upstairs to the hallway apartments. Mike was quiet, not wasn't to disturb the other tenants.

El opened the door for him, and turned on the lighting she kept to a soft glow.

"This is nice."

"Make a fire Mike, we can talk for a few minutes, then I'm hitting the sack."

Mike did so, and after a few minutes El came out with some blankets and a pillow.

"You have a nice place here. I wish Lucas and I could find a place like this."

"You can, all the apartments up here have fireplaces, and they are all currently empty. I'm trying to talk Max into taking an apartment. But she insists on paying me rent. And I'm not taking her money."

"Uh, Lucas and I would probably insist too… um, what about a compromise?"

"What were you thinking?"

"We all pay into an joint account. It's used for maintenance, upgrades, or emergencies."

He could see El thinking about it. "If you can get Max to agree to it, I'll consider that a good compromise."

El made a bed for him on the sofa. "It's only missing one thing, but it will do for now."

"Missing one thing?"

"Me." She smiled over her shoulder and let for her room.

Mike settled on the sofa conveniently positioned for a view in front of the fire.

And fell asleep almost right away.

He bolted upright. The fire had gone out, he heard El screeching his name, "Mike! Papa!"

He ran into her room, she was having a nightmare, tangled and thrashing in her blankets. He sat on the bed and gently shook her. She awoke bawling, and when she saw him she threw her arms around his neck.

He held her for a few minutes, "stay with me Mike."

He sighed, "El, I'm not sleeping in your bed tonight."

"Ok, but… I don't want to be left alone."

"Ok, we compromise."

Mike gathered her up in his arms, still covered in blankets he took her to the sofa and gingerly settled back down on it, still holding her to him.

"Thank you Mike." She fell asleep with her head on his chest.


	6. Bus Stop Wet Day (II)

"Um, sure El, and I think Max probably thinks so too. Uh, I have to catch my bus. See you tomorrow at the bus stop?"

That was _not_ the answer El was expecting. She expected him to smile and say she was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen. He got up so quick and gathered his messenger bag that she wasn't quite sure what to think. She wanted to hide her disappointment and tried to keep a neutral expression on her face.

"No, I don't think so." She tried to keep the disappointment from her voice also but she was sure he caught it. Why would he even bring up Max? That didn't make any sense unless…

Oh shit… he didn't think…? She was about to ask him to stay longer but he was out to door so fast. Almost like he couldn't stand to be in the same room as her.

She took a look outside to see him waiting for the bus in the rain. He looked cold and miserable.

El felt the same way. She was pretty sure she was going to cry herself to sleep tonight.

She was half right. She cried, but never went to sleep

She finally got up early, she dragged herself to the bathroom.

Her eyes were puffy, it was going to take her an hour to get rid of those. That's if she was lucky. She went to the kitchen to put a spoon in the freezer.

Later as she applied the spoon to the bags under her eyes, she was thinking how she was acting like she'd lost the only guy she'd ever loved.

She had in a way, but they'd never even gotten a relationship off the ground. She was starting to think she knew why and would talk about it with Max today.

Maybe she would have some kind of insight as to why El felt this way about Mike, her degree couldn't come up with anything that was for sure. She'd never been attracted to or felt this way about any guy before. What made Mike so different? She wouldn't exactly call it weird, she knew a lot more weirder things than that, she was living proof, but when it came to feelings of the heart, she was in a totally new realm.

She hadn't stayed over at Max's last night. She didn't think she could quite face Mike this morning at the bus stop. Still, she regretted it because she really did want to see him again. If nothing else to test her theory.

Maybe he would stop by the shop today.

Max and El and finished with the early morning crowd. The door opened another three customers walked in.

Max came up to her and put her hand on her arm and whispered in her ear very closely. "I want to introduce you to someone."

Max stepped back and said , "Jane, I want you to meet the guy who asked me to marry me. Lucas Sinclair"

"What Max is forgetting to tell you… Jane… is that it was in fourth grade… and she turned me down. I've been crying myself to sleep every night since then."

Max left El behind the counter and told the young man, "give me a hug Stalker… and… is the offer still open?"

El could see that she was totally serious.

"Let's have a date first. If the magic's not there you are on your own Zoomer.

And to El's surprise he turned to her and said, "and you must be the bus stop girl."

"The bus stop girl?" El said looking between him and Max.

"Ok I don't want to embarrass you in front of Max, but my best friend is hurting pretty bad because he thinks you and Max are together. Actually I did too as soon as I walked in and saw Max whispering to you."

El's curiosity was peaked, Mike hadn't shown any interest in her whatsoever. "Why is he hurting."

"Seriously? He's in love with you. I know the look he gets. I don't know how long you've been bumping into each other, but he told me, uh, yesterday I think. He's got it bad for you. I told him he has to talk to you but he's super shy when it comes to girls."

"Yes," Lisa said behind Lucas. "Something is eating at him, and now this all make sense."

"I need to see him." El said. She was feeling a little panicky as if the time for a real talk with Mike was slipping away.

"Can you ask him to come by today. Anytime. I really need to talk to him. Please Lisa?"

"I will make sure he comes by even if I have to drag him over here myself."

El waited the longest afternoon of her life. Her heart went between feeling like time was shrinking, or aching to see Mike again.

Finally the last of the regulars had left the shop and El started a little clean up to keep her mind occupied.

She was washing down the counter when she heard the door open, her heart swelled and she smiled at Mike. This was not her_ I could love you_ smile. This was her _" love you_ smile. The gloves were off. She had to let him know now she felt before he walked out of here for probably the last time.

"Sit at your table, I'll bring over some tea."

She brought two teas over, one for each of them. He didn't look all that pleased to be sitting across from her

"So…" she said, she ran her finger over the rim of her teacup. "We have something important to talk about. There's been a misunderstanding between us."

"I don't know El. I think everything is clear between us." He was sounding defeated.

"Mike," she said putting on a voice like she was talking to a five year old, "yesterday I thought your sister was your girlfriend, so not everything is clear between us…"

To hell with it. I'm going to come right out and say it, she thought to herself, "I don't want to argue Mike. I want our first kiss to be special."

She leaned forward on the table. All he had to do was meet her halfway and kiss her. She would kiss him back. And then maybe she would melt.

Instead he seemed to have shifted his entire body backwards.

"Ahh, why would you even say that El? Obviously someone has been talking to you," his voice had gotten really quiet., " I can't help the way I feel, but that's just a cruel joke. It's not fair to to me and definitely not to Max."

She saw that tears had formed in his eyes. He looked so lost. That was when she knew that she was in love with him. She didn't care that she didn't know him all that well, she didn't care what _other_ people would say. She only cared about how she felt. How she _knew_ this guy was the one. Her abilities couldn't tell her this, but her heart knew. _She_ knew.

Her confidence in that fact kept the smile on her face. She knew he was hurting and she wanted to let him know how she felt. She needed to deal with the Max issue first.

"Yes, about Max…" No sooner had she said her name when Max came out from the back office. She was dressed for her date with Lucas. She had pulled out all the stops from her usual tomboy style of dressing.

"Ok, Eleven I'm going to meet Lucas at the University library, you ok to cleanup?"

"I'm good Zoomer, have a good time." She turned to Mike, "she's going out on a date with a school boyfriend from a town she used to live in."

"Boyfriend?" Mike looked very confused. She was enjoying his confusion, because they were zeroing in on a truth.

"I thought you two were… I mean…"

"Mike… I love Max, like a sister. But we are not romantically involved. And I know that people get the wrong idea all the time. Two people in the last two days. With you being one of them. Customers do all the time."

El had come to the realization that was the reason why they got certain looks from their regulars.

"But…"

"Mike."

"But, I saw…"

"Mike," she leaned forward another few inches. "Do you want to kiss me?"

He did. She could see his eyes closing, and she closed hers also, holding on to tears. He was going to kiss her! He held the tender kiss, and her eyes spilled the tears freely.

He pulled back slightly and she said in a voice barely audible to herself, "You are my first kiss Mike."

"Mine too, El. I, uh, don't want it to be the last."

Relief flooded her at the same time self-doubt did and she was about to give in to her bad habit of running her hand over her head.

Mike held it carefully down on the table, with his other hand he ran if over her hair. He stopped at the the back of her head, and pulled her slowly towards to his face. His kiss was much firmer and longer. Letting her know he'd meant the first one.

She sighed against his mouth, "oh Mike."

"I wanted to do that the first day at the bus stop," he said.

She didn't want to want to kill the moment, but she felt a need to lock out the rest of the world, so she could have him all to herself.

"Hold on a minute, I'm going to lock up. I don't want any interruptions while we talk."

She got up to lock the front door, and set the alarm. A storm was brewing outside and the rain was coming down hard. She gave a slight shiver. She didn't like storms. Never had.

"Um, doesn't your boss complain if you open and close at all hours? Especially if it's dependent on the weather?"

She let him know that she owned this business. She was proud of it. She didn't care if the business lost money, she had more than enough to keep it afloat for several lifetimes.

She didn't want to let Mike know that she was a little scared of storms, so she used her other excuse about the computer. He didn't seem to notice, so she was grateful for that.

He was willing to teach her and she offered to pay. His answer made her heart surge.

"Um, no. I'm not letting my girlfriend pay… uh, that was um, a little presumptuous of me."

"You want me to be your girlfriend?" She looked at him scared and hopeful.

In a much quieter voice than she'd ever head he said, "more than anything El."

She moved into his arms, and looked up at him, "ok, Mike. I'm yours. I won't break your heart. I promise."

Her emotions got the better of her and a little bit of her ability slipped out. The lights flickered in response.. Mike didn't notice anything unusual, so she kissed him, pulled back and smiled. "Ok, more later, train me computer nerd."

Mike was a good teacher. She managed to absorb everything he said, a lot of things suddenly making sense. Her feeling of empowerment over the computer had strengthened.

She thought she'd done something wrong, when Mike swore. Like a true gentleman he apologized, and explained why.

And then a bit of the boldness she felt that first day took over and she said, "Stay with me tonight."

She had no intention of sleeping with him tonight. But… had the moment presented itself, or even evolved to the point where they had agreed to, she would have. She would give herself to him, and not regretted a minute of it.

"No, El. Not the first night of our relationship."

Even though she didn't fully mean her next words she said them anyway.

"I'm offering my sofa, silly, I'm _not_ sleeping with you tonight. Same reason."

He thought her apartment was a bit of a walk, but she let him know that it was upstairs. She also let him know that she owned the building.

He looked a little bewildered. He wasn't expecting that. Just wait El thought to herself. I have things to tell you that will make your hair curl… well curlier than it already was. The anticipation of… soon… running her fingers through his hair was doing things for her. But she was able to clamp down on the feeling by thinking of the lab.

"Government compensation. A story for later. I don't want to keep any secrets from you."

And that reminded her, "Today was an exhausting day for me Mike. I need to sleep, I… I don't really like storms."

He looked pleased to see her apartment, "this is nice."

El was happy with her apartment, a loft really, it was exactly what she'd wanted. She asked Mike to make a fire. She went to get blankets and a pillow for him.

Mike told her that he and Lucas were looking for a place. She offered the rooms and knew the money issue would come up. El really wanted her friends to all be together. Mike's compromise sounded good to her.

He could see El thinking about it. "If you can get Max to agree to it, I'll consider that a good compromise."

El didn't know why she didn't kiss him goodnight, she felt so comfortable around him that it didn't feel like she was missing anything. They would have plenty of times to kiss.

She fell blissfully asleep.

The nightmare was one of the worst she had. She dreamed that she wasn't able to escape from the lab his time, she called out Mike's name, she couldn't find him, and he was nowhere to be found.

Something woke her up and she was crying uncontrollably, she saw Mike and threw her arms around him hoping he could save her.

She said something about not wanting to be alone, and she felt strong arms pick her up easily with all of her blankets. She was being carried, and then she was laying down, beside Mike.

"Thank you Mike." She felt warm. She felt safe. Mike's beating heart led her into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Bus Goes, She Stays (I)

El opened her eyes. It was still dark. She was lying on top of Mike, his arms wrapped around her. Protecting her. He was keeping her warm and safe. Her face was nuzzled up against his neck and her lips could feel the pulse in his neck. She listened to his gentle breathing. She smiled and eased back into sleep.

When she woke again, it was light out and Mike was still sleeping. She stirred and carefully untangled herself from his arms. She went to have a shower. After she put on her bathrobe and went to the kitchen area to make them breakfast.

She started the coffee process, and when that was brewing, she started to cut up green peppers for an omelette.

"The smell of bacon and coffee woke me up. Driving me crazy. This is very domestic. I like it." Mike said off to her side.

Yes, domestic, El thought. She wanted to be domestic with Mike. She turned to him.

"I have always wanted to wake up in the arms of the guy I… love." She looked up into his eyes through her eyelashes. He looked back at her with such an unreadable gaze, she had to turn back to her food preparation to gather her thoughts. She knew for sure she loved Mike.

He came up behind her and hugged her waist from behind. His mouth was down by her neck. "I know it's only been two or three days, but I don't care. I love you El, I'm yours forever too. And I will mirror your promise... I won't break your heart either."

He kissed her neck. She shivered. It was time. She pushed back into him and felt his generous response. Her body had an immediate and intense reaction. _This was it_.

He stepped back, held up his hands and said, "I'm sorry El, I didn't mean for that to happen." He was averting his eyes and blushing.

"Mike… I know our first time might be awkward and we fumble around a bit… but let's get that part behind us… and…" Feeling bolder than she'd ever been, she undid the the belt of her bathrobe, "I'm about set the women's movement back a hundred years." She let her bathrobe fall open.

"I want to be yours Mike…. Completely."

His eyes widened, and he nodded. She took his hand and led him away from the kitchen area.

XXXXX

Afterwards, El was lying on her back, one hand over her eyes, she couldn't look at him, she felt the heat from her face, "Sorry Mike, I didn't think I would be that loud… do you think they heard me downstairs?" She was mortified.

"You don't need to worry if they heard you downstairs El… you need to worry that you were heard across the street."

Her other hand flew to her face. She was positive she had a full body blush. She giggled.

"I guess it means you enjoyed yourself. Um, every time… you were good for my ego… and El? None of it was awkward." El felt him shift and a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Let's have breakfast," she got up and put her bathrobe back on.

Her apartment had a little breakfast nook where they ate. She looked at Mike, "you have beautiful eyes." She had to smile when his cheeks turned pink.

"You aren't used to compliments are you?"

"Not from a pretty girl I'm not." He said. This time it was her turn for pink cheeks.

She was unsure of herself now, of what she was about to say. "Mike… I don't want you to take an apartment up here."

"You don't?" He looked disappointed, so she continued quickly.

"No. I want you to move in with me. Tonight. I'm ready for that step."

"It's a big one, El. You'll have to get used to my socks in the sink. Or in the fridge."

He looked at her… was he serious? But then she saw him grin. "I get it Mike, there will be some adjustments for both of us. Give me your address." She got up for a pencil and wrote while he dictated.

"I'll go back and pack some of my clothes, talk to Lucas if he's there. I'm sure he'll be happy I found a place. We were getting desperate, it's near the end of the month.

"Let's go have a shower." She said.

XXXXX

Mike was following her down the stairs. She saw Lucas and Max kissing in the back office.

Max jumped back a little startled when she saw El, but she smirked and raised her eyebrows as she saw Mike following in behind.

"You guys sleep ok?" Max was trying to embarrass her.

"I woke up in Mike's arms… on the sofa."

Max raised her eyebrows again, "oh… you've always wanted to do that." El nodded and looked at Mike. The look he gave her made her a bit unsteady on her feet. He grabbed her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her forehead.

"Lucas, short version. Apartments for rent upstairs, I'm going to pack and bag and I'm coming right back."

"We still have to move our stuff," Lucas said. The tone of his voice made it obvious he wasn't looking forward to it.

"I have that covered," El said holding up a piece of paper with their address on it.

Mike's soft lips kissed her again and he whispered to her, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

With a slight pang in her heart she watched him leave, but the thought of Mike returning to her before too much time had passed gave her confidence.

"He's moving in with you?" Lucas said. He looked back and forth between her and Max.

El nodded giving him a sheepish smile.

"So you owe me dinner Stalker."

"I mean, I know Mike is probably ready for that, but are you sure? Not to sound, um, skeptical, but he's a sensitive guy. I'd hate to see something you guys rushed into totally fall apart. It would break his heart. " Lucas sounded very concerned for his best friend.

El nodded again. She was so, so sure. "I won't break his heart, Lucas. I won't."

Lucas looked at her, then nodded slowly. "Ok… well Mike will never break yours either. I'll bet he's already promised you… and it's a rule we have, a promise is something you can't break."

"Ever?" El _needed_ to hear his confirmation.

"Ever." Lucas say with finality.

El went over to give him a hug, surprising both him and Max.

"Thank you Lucas."

El couldn't concentrate on anything that morning. She was fidgety, she kept glancing at the front door every time it opened hoping for Mike to walk through. But it was always another customer, and always a regular who would look at her and nod a greeting.

A few of the regulars she was closer to asked if she was ok, what was bothering her. When they asked she was always looking at the front door.

Was Mike even coming back? Did he suddenly get cold feet when reality hit him back at his apartment. How long did it take to bus there, pack and then bus back?

She had been so self-assured this morning, but that had waned to the point of doubt, and then fear. Fear that she had been foolish. That the fairy tale beginning to their relationship was just that: a fairy tale.

El went from feeling foolish to feeling stupid. And then to feeling ashamed. She had thrown herself at this guy. Given herself to him and he had just played her. Used her.

But Lucas said…? He said what El? Maybe Lucas lied to you also? Maybe they are both players and had a bet on who would get laid first. Ok, El. now you are just being paranoid. You are a good judge of people, there's no way you could have read Mike wrong…

Could you?

El sat on an easy chair at the back of the store, where there were more bookshelves and less people. She could escape here. She would just stay there for the afternoon, maybe even sleep there. She didn't think she could go back to her apartment. Not without Mike… that was beginning to look like a pipe dream.

She heard the front door jingle. She couldn't help herself and ran to see who it was.

It was Mike. He was looking around the room and like he was a little short of breath... and looking entirely unsure of himself. And lost. She ran at him and almost knocked him over. Tears flowing freely down her face.

She hugged him tightly. He hugged her back just as tightly. His face buried in her neck. He said something that had her slightly confused and glad at the same time.

"El… I wasn't sure of… anything… you… what you said… I was thinking really stupid things. Losing you over something I said or did… I… don't want to lose you."

She stepped back and looked at him, she felt the wet tears re-flowing, and shook her head, "You won't lose me."

He didn't look all that sure of what she said.

She looked into his eyes, her own still blurry.

"Mike, I _promise_."


	8. Bus Goes, She Stays (II)

What woke Mike up was El's comforting embrace was missing. She was gone, but the smell of coffee and bacon made him smile. She was making him breakfast. He could hear the sound of a knife working on a wood cutting board.

Mike got up and stretched. He walked to the kitchen area and saw her slicing what looked like green peppers.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. She was beautiful.

He didn't want to startle her, or make her uncomfortable about her screaming in the middle of the night, or how much he missed her once she'd left the sofa so he tried some morning humour.

"The smell of bacon and coffee woke me up. Driving me crazy. This is very domestic. I like it."

He _did_ like it. He felt at home with her, even though this was her apartment she'd made him feel welcome. Like she'd done this every morning for him. Like she _would_ do this every morning for him.

"I have always wanted to wake up in the arms of the guy I… love."

There. She just said it. The look in her eyes showed him no doubt. That was when he knew himself. He loved El. Three days be damned, he was in love with this girl. He looked and was about to say so, but she suddenly looked… pensive? She turned to go back to her cutting board.

He came up behind her, slid his arms around her waist. He truly hoped his voice conveyed the emotion he felt.

"I know it's only been two or three days, but I don't care. I love you El, I'm yours forever too. And I will mirror your promise... I won't break your heart either." When he kissed her neck he felt her shiver, and then a slight hesitation in her body.

She arched her back slightly and her bottom made firm contact with him.

Mike was ashamed to think that his lizard brain took over completely. When he realized the reaction he had. He stepped back, held up his hands and said, "I'm sorry El, I didn't mean for that to happen." He looked away, unable to hide his burning face.

But it was ok, it wasn't awkward and they didn't fumble.

Mike was disappointed, and then elated that El had asked him to move in with him. He knew it was a big step for them, but he was ready.

When they had gone downstairs, Max and Lucas looked a bit startled. He knew the look on Lucas's face. He'd been kissing Max.

You guys sleep ok?" Max said.

"I woke up in Mike's arms… on the sofa."

"oh… you've always wanted to do that."

El nodded and looked at him. I love you. He beamed a thought at her with his eyes. She suddenly looked like she'd collapse so he grabbed her shoulders and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. She kept her eyes closed until he pulled back and looked up at him.

He needed to go pack some clothes so he come right back to her. He need to do that now!

"Lucas, short version. Apartments for rent upstairs, I'm going to pack and bag and I'm coming right back."

"We still have to move our stuff," Lucas said. The tone of his voice made it obvious he wasn't looking forward to it.

"I have that covered," El said holding up a piece of paper with their address on it.

Mike's kissed her again and he whispered to her, "I'll be back as soon as I can."

He managed to catch the next bus as soon as he stepped out the door. He didn't want to leave El to explain what was happening to Max and Lucas, but if she ran into an issue Mike would smooth it over once he got back.

Mike almost missed his stop. He'd been daydreaming about doing ordinary everyday things with El. Just to watch her reading, or working with customers would be enough him. Knowing that he'd get to look into those eyes again… that he would get to kiss her again. He sighed.

He was fiddling with his apartment keys more than usual. It felt like they didn't fit the door at all… he tried different keys, but he was sure he had the right one. Shit. Did they get locked out?

He'd have to go down and see the superintendent. Shit! He didn't have time for this! He already felt edgy, being so away from El this long. And he still have the bus ride back.

He made his way down the hallway, when a guy in a uniform was making his way towards him.

"You wouldn't happen to be a…" he looked down at his clipboard, "Mike Wheeler would you?"

Mike was wary, "yeah, something I can help you with? I'm just on my way to see the superintendent."

"If it's about your apartment, don't bother. You are locked out. You can't get in. No reason for you to be in there now anyway."

"Uh, all my stuff is in there, including my clothes."

"Not any longer. Do you know… ", he looked back down at his clipboard again, "a Miss Jane Hopper."

Shit. "No"

"You sure? Uh, there's a note here in brackets… just the number eleven. But that wasn't your apartment number."

Mike smiled, "Eleven, ok, wow you guys are quick, we just talked about it this morning."

"We do a lot of work for Miss Hopper, she owns a few buildings in the city."

Mike had to do a double take, "she does?"

"Yeah, not far from here is her coffee shop slash book store, right across the street from that is large high rise, she owns that too."

That was the building that Mike worked in.

What was going on here?

He was confused now. Was she hiding something from him? Why was she keeping it a secret. Cost of a building like that high rise had to be in the high millions.

For the first time in their short relationship, he had doubts. Not just the little ones he'd had yesterday and the day before, but huge doubts. If nothing else, it explained why she didn't want any rent money. But it didn't really explain why she ran a coffee shop. Or why she was being so secretive. She hadn't actually lied to him. He didn't think she would, but now it felt like he didn't know her at all. Not even a little bit.

The worst part about the whole thing was that he wasn't in all that much of a rush to get back.

After what they shared before breakfast he felt a little used. Was she just a player? Some rich girl or from a rich family. The only people who made the news these days were billionaires, but there were still many millionaires flying under the radar, who know what kinds of shady dealings were going on with them.

Mike sat on the bus stop bench. It was cold sitting there but he was numb in an entirely different way. He knew if he had to, he could sleep on the leather sofa Lisa had made sure was delivered to his office.

He shook his head at two bus drivers who stopped. He wasn't ready to go back yet. He didn't have any clothes so he had nothing to carry. He decided to walk back. So he could think a bit longer.

He knew she must be waiting for him to get back. She might even act like she was really worried. But she _promised_ she wouldn't break his heart. Did she just say that to appease him? Because if she meant it, this was an awful big secret that could test any relationship.

"Damn it all, El. What's going on?" He said out loud. A few people turned to him, curious.

Mike, he said to himself. You know what you have to come to terms with it. You have to decide for yourself if you really love her. Was it all a fairy tale of whirlwind romance for the last three days?

You have to decide if you care about who she really is, or do you just love her for herself. Sure she may have secrets, but if she really loves you she will tell you. Right?

If she finds out you know? What then? Is the jig up as they say, will she finally confess but then be done with you?

He saw the coffee shop up on the next block. But I love her. If she still wants me, then I take the bad with the good. As long as she loves me… I can live with the rest. I don't care how bad it is.

He pulled in a deep breath. "Let's get this over with."

He didn't hear the jingle of the door, when he opened it, he was still lost in self-doubt.

He walked in and looked around the room to see if she was there, his heart was pounding, and he was deeply disappointed when he didn't see her right away.

She almost bowled him over when she ran to him and threw her arms around him. Tears flowing freely down her face. She hugged him tightly. He hugged her back just as tightly. His face buried in her neck.

"El… I wasn't sure of… anything… you… what you said… I was thinking really stupid things. Losing you over something you said or did… I… don't want to lose you."

She stepped back and looked at him, her face wet with tears, and shook her head, "You won't lose me."

He was really confused. This was the El he knew this morning

She looked into his eyes. "Mike, I promise."

"And… I will tell you everything, just… please stay with me tonight?"

That was good enough for Mike. He could work with that.


	9. Bus Goes, He Stays (I)

"And… I will tell you everything, just… please stay with me tonight?"

El didn't want to sound like she was begging. She didn't care, obviously Mike had found out something he didn't know about her, so she was feeling the urgency to get it all out in the open.

"Let's go upstairs. You need to know all this _now_. I don't want to lose you either, not over this."

She took his hand and led him up the stairwell to the apartment upstairs.

She let Mike into her apartment first, and closed and locked the door behind her. She leaned up against the door looked at the wood beamed ceiling and closed her eyes.

"This is going to be bad isn't it?"

She nodded her head. "I won't lie to you Mike. Max and I have a rule. Friends Don't Lie." She felt sadder than she had in any day of her life previous. It seemed to be rubbing off on Mike because his body language had changed. He looked unsure. She felt like she would lose him tonight, once he knew everything.

His voice was barely audible when he spoke, "are we still going to be together after this?"

"It will be up to you, Mike. I still want to be, but I've been living with this my whole life. This will all be new to you."

He nodded, walked up to her and gave her a firm kiss. "We deal with it together. I'm willing to work with whatever it is if you're beside me to help."

"That's all I can ask Mike." She took a big breath, "ok, you'll want to sit down for this…"

So El told Mike her life story.

How she'd been a lab experiment for the first twelve years of her life. How the only clothes she had were a hospital gown, that she would have to change out of into a weight suit for the bath. How she was wired up to machines. That where she slept at night, whether on a cold floor in a dark room or a cold bed in a dark room was dependent on her success with experiments. How the last straw was when they wanted her to kill a cat. How she escaped. How she'd had to hurt people, and possibly killed them. How she spent untold days in the forest trying to survive. How Jim Hopper had tried to help and how eventually she'd reached out to him. How he had somehow been able to adopt her. How their first year together was a learning experience for both of them. How they would die for each other, no questions asked.

And how her dad managed to have the whole lab shutdown, and the government wanted to keep them quiet and told them to forget about their principles and name a price. How her dad gave them a ridiculous number.

And how they paid it without saying a word.

"Any questions?" She couldn't look at him.

He gave off a big sigh and said quietly. "I thought you said you weren't going to lie to me, El."

"You don't believe me." El knew this was a possibility but she was crushed just the same.

"You are telling me you can move things with your mind?" Mike said softly, "you are asking me to believe you have a superhero power… this is all surreal."

They were sitting on the sofa they had slept on the the previous night. So El just lifted it.

"I'm going to keep lifting until you believe me."

Mike's looked down to the receding floor, then with those gentle eyes, he nodded. "Friends Don't Lie. I feel like shit that I doubted you for even one second."

"Nobody would believe me. My dad didn't either, he learned the hard way."

"Um, speaking of which, that lab and Jim Hopper sounds like a town in Indiana called Hawkins. I'm from there. You obviously didn't go to school there."

"It wasn't safe for me to be away from the cabin. I hated it. But my dad kept me safe, he fed me, and he taught me. Later he got me Max as a tutor, she had a bad home life so she stayed with me at the cabin. Max and I have known each other since I was twelve or thirteen."

"And that explains how Max and Lucas new each other. Remind me to hug Max."

El smiled. He was taking this a lot better now.

"You said they paid you a ridiculous amount of hush money, so like hundred thousand?"

El pointed to the ceiling.

"A million?"

El kept pushing her finger up. "Mike. I'm a billionaire. They originally paid my dad and I one hundred million, because they knew they'd end up paying that with a lawsuit anyway."

"That's a lot of money, but it's not a billion."

"That lab basically abused me and ten other kids for twelve years. That was a cheap fix for an insidious government operation. We invested it, smartly."

She pulled up her sleeve. The second Mike saw the 011 he burst into tears. She scooted over and hugged him. "It's ok Mike, it's all over. I have money, my dad, Max, and I now have the guy I'm going to love forever. I'm good with that."

"That's all really messed up, El." He cried into her shoulder.

"It is. But I have a plan."

Mike pulled back from her. "El?"

"The lab started right back up after they paid us the money."

"But if you got caught. You… you'd get disappeared El."

"I'm not going to do anything. I have everything in place… but now that I have you… I don't think I can go through with it." She fell silent.

"I was going to use you Mike."

"To do something illegal?"

"No, what you are doing is perfectly legal, what _everybody_ is doing is perfectly legal. But when it's all put together, it exposes the lab."

"You are having second thoughts."

"I was very determined a few years ago, but it all seems unimportant now."

"You haven't gotten any justice El."

"True. But I have something much better, I have you and I'm happy. Mike, I _never_ thought I would be this happy."

He smiled at her.

"Are you going to be ok with all this?"

"I just found out my girlfriend has superpowers. Oh, and happens to be a billionaire. None of that matters to me, because she loves me. Even though she stole all of my clothes."

El giggled. "You'll just have to walk around naked then."


	10. Bus Goes, He Stays (II)

Mike thought that El was desperate. Her voice was pleading with him. It hurt a little to hear her voice like that. He would have done anything for her if she'd used that voice. Anything.

El practically pulled him up the stairs to her apartment. There was no playful smile coming from her. She looked terrified.

She seemed adamant that he stay with her tonight. That had him a little worried.

"This is going to be bad isn't it?" He was preparing for the worst

She nodded her head. "I won't lie to you Mike. Max and I have a rule. Friends Don't Lie."

This was the same rule Lucas and he had. It was something they had adhered to since they were kids. Obviously he'd passed that on to Max, and she had ingrained it into El.

Even if friends got angry with each other, it was a good rule to keep. You would never go wrong with it. Mike hoped that this would be the case also.

She looked so sad when her eyes settled on him that he felt like he was taking on her pain. His shoulders slumped a little. How bad could this be?

His heart froze. He needed to ask the question, and he was scared to death of the answer.

He couldn't put any power into his voice when he asked, "are we still going to be together after this?"

"It will be up to you, Mike. I still want to be, but I've been living with this my whole life. This will all be new to you."

Ah, shit, This was going to be bad. The glimmer of hope was that it seemed like it would be his decision. Well, he thought. I choose _y__es_. I don't care what she says. El Hopper is now the girl I love. Nothing is going to change that.

He wanted to let her know, so he kissed her.

"We deal with it together. I'm willing to work with whatever it is if you're beside me to help."

"That's all I can ask Mike." She took a big breath, "ok, you'll want to sit down for this…"

El Hopper spun him a tail out of one of Dean Koontz's books. He wasn't sure if she had lifted it verbatim from one of his books or was making some of it up on the fly.

He had no way of checking any of the details. And that was a bit of a problem. There were _so many_ details that really, only a diseased mind could make up.

Mike was now terrified that she had a major mental illness. Maybe it only manifested itself when she was in a relationship.

The moving guy said she owned buildings, so that part must have been true… or… did she just tell that guy she owned those buildings?

He doubted himself again when she spoke of her dad, how they would die for each other, no questions asked. She sounded so sincere that Mike's heart was now conflicted. Here was this -and let's face it- impossibly pretty girl, telling him an equally impossible story.

Mike was crushed. He didn't think he could be with her, if she was seriously disturbed, she could be dangerous to the both of them. If she needed professional help, he would stick with her, but he knew she wouldn't be the same without her delusion. He could tell that this particular story of hers had established who she was.

Who knew what had happened in her childhood that had caused her to create this fantasy? She spoke of it like she believed it. There would be no convincing her otherwise.

"Any questions?" She couldn't even look at him when she asked that. As if she knew it was all unbelievable but was now waiting for the barrage of questions where the answers would be even more unbelievable.

He decided to ask the emotional question. One where she wouldn't be able to make up any story.

"I thought you said you weren't going to lie to me, El."

"You don't believe me."

The sound of her defeated voice, pressed against his heart. She was either telling the truth, or believed she was telling the truth. Mike was starting to think of an escape strategy. He had no idea where this was going.

"You are telling me you can move things with your mind?" Mike said softly, "you are asking me to believe you have a superhero power… this is all surreal."

Mike was close to tears but managed to hide it. He was devastated. It felt like he was in a strange version of the movie _Jagged Edge_.

They were sitting on the sofa they had slept on the the previous night. It had meant so much to stay with El, now the whole thing felt… different.

Mike was trying to figure out in the back of his mind, how to get out of there without El coming at him with a kitchen knife when the sofa came off the floor about and inch.

And kept going.

"I'm going to keep lifting until you believe me."

Oh, god. He had not even tried to believe her. How was he ever going to recover from this?

He looked at the girl he loved, and nodded, "Friends Don't Lie. I feel like shit that I doubted you for even one second." How was he ever going to make this up to her? She had told him about her awful past, and he thought she was a psycho.

He wanted to change the subject, he couldn't tell her what he had been thinking. She'd be so disappointed in him.

They talked about the government compensation. El told him she was a billionaire. This time Mike didn't doubt her and not because he was sitting on a sofa that was hovering more than a foot off the floor. He didn't doubt her because he loved her and Friends Don't Lie. It was as simple as that

"That lab basically abused me and ten other kids for twelve years. That was a cheap fix for an insidious government operation. We invested it, smartly."

When cringed a little when he heard the word _abused_. How could he have ever questioned what she said? This girl had poured out her life story, not a pleasant one at all, and she had expected him to believe her. Mike was feeling low. He was ashamed of himself.

She pulled up her sleeve. The second he saw the 011 he burst into tears. Ah shit, there it was. The proof, her name… what name? it was a number and she still using it.

She scooted over and hugged him. "It's ok Mike, it's all over. I have money, my dad, Max, and I now have the guy I'm going to love forever. I'm good with that."

Mike could barely speak. "That's all really messed up, El." He cried into her shoulder.

El started to explain the beginnings of a plan to get back at the lab and the people who ran it. He got his second shock of the night. When she said, "I was going to use you Mike."

Use me? "To do something illegal?"

"No, what you are doing is perfectly legal, what _everybody_ is doing is perfectly legal. But when it's all put together, it exposes the lab."

"You are having second thoughts."

"I was very determined a few years ago, but it all seems unimportant now."

"You haven't gotten any justice El."

"True. But I have something much better, I have you and I'm happy. Mike, I _never_ thought I would be this happy."

Mike could not believe this girl, she had been not treated like a human for over a decade, she had formed a plan and put it into action, but was now having second thoughts. Yet she was now willing to abandon it completely because they were together.

Mike didn't really deserve her, nobody did but he was glad he was hers. He would make sure she knew she was loved, every second they were together.

He smiled at her.

"Are you going to be ok with all this?"

And she was still concerned about him.

"I just found out my girlfriend has superpowers. Oh, and happens to be a billionaire. None of that matters to me, because she loves me. Even though she stole all of my clothes."

El looked into his eyes, blinked once then giggled. "You'll just have to walk around naked then."

He held her face in his hands. He kissed her forehead, each eye, and then her soft lips.

He looked into her eyes, "Seriously El. Where are my clothes?"

She giggled, "next apartment silly. I needed to store your stuff somewhere. Bring all your clothes over here tonight, we can sort through your furniture later.

Mike wanted to get a good night's sleep. They had both had too much drama for the day. He had a plan, he wouldn't lie to El about it, but he wouldn't tell her what he was going to do tomorrow either.


	11. Hawkins or Bust (I)

Mike walked out of his office and into Lisa's with some print outs, "Lisa, do you have anybody that can read… uh Mandarin I think it is?

"That's an odd question, but yes we do."

"What about Russian?"

"And yes. Is that coded in one of those languages?"

"No two different programs, but some the comments in some of the sections are in the two different languages."

"Let me send the two people you need up to your office."

Mike talked to two co-workers he'd never met until now, they translated the comments, but the resulting English didn't mean anything to them.

Mike could tell it was encrypted. He had an idea where the encryption key was kept, when he retrieved it, he removed any signs he had been there, and took the courtesy of closing the back door and securing the computer he'd hacked into. He left a message to the owner. Ordinarily he'd be more discreet than that. But he needed to do it in this case.

Once he had decrypted the translated messages, he saw what was happening. Happened. And he had triggered it by getting the keys.

He had new found respect for the owner of the computer he'd hacked into.

Mike spent the afternoon making sure that all the paper trails, and system logging were clean. He knew that some of the code he'd optimized in previous days, had made that possible. The whole thing was probably going to work.

"Clever girl."

XXXXX

When he walked into the coffee shop, Lucas was down on one knee, and Max was crying.

They both looked at him.

"I'm guessing you said yes, Max. You know Lucas waited for you since since grade 4."

Max nodded, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"We're going to get married in Hawkins, Mike. Um, do I need to ask?"

"No, Lucas. I'd be honoured to be your Best Man."

Max came over and hugged him. She whispered into his ear, "El needs you. She's upstairs."

Mike had a good idea of what the problem was, and he was sure she'd probably be crying. He was going to have to ease her mind of any guilt she felt.

He walked carefully up the stairs and opened her apartment door.

She was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, her hands in her lap, her head hanging down.

"Am I going to jail?"

"No, El. You covered your tracks ok, I cleaned up some minor things. I was going to make it look like all the hacking attempts came from that psychotic Brenner, but he already tried, at least someone using a terminal from his office, so there's no frame up involved. He's actually guilty of that and who knows what else."

"Am I in trouble?"

"El, I just said-"

"With you Mike. Am I in trouble with you? It looks like I used you after all."

"I love you El. You didn't really use me. You did most of the work yourself. Um, so not only can you move things with your mind… as if that wasn't enough. But you are an elite hacker too?"

El shrugged, gave him a faltering smile.

"So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it wasn't that I hacked into your computer through all those relays and your firewall, oh great job on a custom firewall by the way.. And it wasn't that I accessed the encryption keys to copy them. And it wasn't that after I wrote a quickie assembly program to change the tarpit listening port sitting in front of the honeypot. A port that didn't actually need changing, and I had to port knock to get there, but when I thought I was changing it back _and_ the other bits of cleanup, I actually made the listening port wrong, and _that's_ what triggered everything. I counted eleven tasks I needed to do before I was done."

"I did ok?" She gave him such an innocent and lost look through those round eyes all Mike could do was kiss her.

"I love you and you are brilliant El. There are not many programmers in the world who could have pulled off what you did… I'm uh, a little envious, I thought of myself as near the top of this business, but now I'm not so sure."

"Except you figured out what I did. I wanted it to take a very good hacker to trigger all the events. I didn't want it to be you who triggered everything, I should have known when I hired you-"

She looked up at his questioning eyes.

"I uh, looked at your portfolio, I was looking for a specific set of skills and you had them. I didn't know I would fall in love with you at a bus stop though…"

"Me either," Mike smiled at her. "Um, you should go downstairs, Max has something to tell you."

Mike put away his laptop and briefcase, made a few calls, and then headed back downstairs.

El and Max were hugging and crying.

Max held out her ring to Mike.

"One ring to rule them all. Wow, Lucas must be serious if he gave you his homemade ring from _Lord of the Rings_."

"It's just a placeholder until I get the real thing… I couldn't wait any longer to ask her."

El kept her head down, not meeting his eyes. Mike knew what was she was thinking.

"I bought four bus tickets. We leave for Hawkins at six." Lucas waived them around.

XXXXX

The sun was setting as the bus left the station, Max and Lucas were holding hands and talking quietly in the two seats in front of El and Mike.

El was looking out the window, she hadn't said anything to Mike since they sat down. She didn't reach for his hand which bothered Mike a little.

Now wasn't the time.

"Something wrong El?

"No." She gave a huge sigh.

"I look forward to these quiet times where we can just hold hands and be with each other."

"I'm not really in the mood Mike."

Mike looked down. "Hmm, that's gonna make what I have to say a lot harder, but I don't want wait El."

For the first time since they'd gotten on the bus El turned to him gave him an expectant look, hope maybe? Her facial expressions were so subtle it was taking him time to get to know them all.

"Wait to tell me what? I thought we were finished with all the hard and awkward bits?"

"Yeah," He looked down. Frowned and shook his head. This wasn't going the way he wanted it to. She was upset with him. Not over something he did or said, but for something he hadn't said yet. Something he wanted to say now but her sour mood was putting him off.

"I'm sorry Mike. I'm moody, I'm not really looking forward to going back to Hawkins. Iim only doing it because Max asked me to be her bridesmaid."

El gave him genuine smile. It only lasted for a few seconds.

"Yes, it will be great to see my dad, but Mike… I don't have a lot of fond memories there. And I know once Max and Lucas get married, I'm going to be losing a best friend..." As soon as she said that her breath hitched and she put her face in her hands and cried, trying to keep her sobs as quiet as possible.

"We could create good memories there El"

"How? I'll be with you, but a lot of bad things happened to me. I thought I was over all of it. But it's all coming back. You'll have to bear with me."

"If you married me in Hawkins, that would be a good memory."

Her breathing stopped, He wet eyes got larger as she looked at him. "You are asking me to marry you?" She looked around as if she wasn't hearing him correctly.

"I am." She grabbed his hand.

"Will you marry me E?l. In Hawkins?"

"I know it's only been-"

"Yes."

"-a couple of days since-"

"Yes"

"-we've known each other."

El stopped him talking by kissing him, and then saying against is mouth. "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. A thousand yes's. I love you so much Mike."

"Um, El, I might have done something without asking you first… I hope it's ok."

"Mike?"

"I asked your dad to pick us up. And drive us to the Justice of the Peace. He wants to give you away. I want you to be my wife as soon as possible after we get off the bus."

The heart wrenching sob that came El was hard to take, Mike had to wipe his eyes.

"And El? Lucas would never let you lose your best friend. You don't have to worry about that."

He didn't think she was listening, her eyes looked a little glazed over. Mike had made her happy, and that's all he ever wanted to do.

She sighed again.

"I'm going to be Mrs. El Wheeler"


	12. Hawkins or Bust (II)

El was sitting at her computer, working with her spreadsheet program again.

She heard a quiet beep, one she hadn't expected to hear, at least not at this time.

A window popped up on the screen with a simple message. She froze.

It was not that she hadn't been expecting a message, she was, but not now and not _this_ message.

"I love you."

That could only mean two things. Her plan had been triggered by a very, _very_ smart person. _And_ that person was Mike.

How had he figured it all out? One clue didn't lead to another, she made sure that the hacker had to really _know_ what he was doing.

That meant Mike was being very humble about his skills. She smiled to herself. Of course he was. He was never going to brag.

She had covered her tracks well, she shouldn't be worried about any kind of investigation. But she worried nonetheless.

By the time Max got to the store, El was a bit of a mess. "I might be in trouble Max. And I can't tell you what it is. If Mike comes by send him up?"

Max nodded.

El went upstairs. All she could do was worry. Going to jail, well, that would be bad, but her lawyers would make sure it took a long time, and at a much reduced sentence. She would be as comfortable as she could be. What bothered her the most is that she would be without Mike.

She heard the door open.

She wasn't able to look at Mike what when she said, ""Am I going to jail?"

Mike did his best to reassure her. She felt better after he'd told her what he had done to protect her.

"I did ok?" El felt at a loss, she did _not_ want to jeopardize her relationship with Mike.

Mike smiled at her. "Um, you should go downstairs, Max has something to tell you."

El left the apartment to go downstairs to Max.

Max had been crying, she ran to El and flung her arms around her, she was breathless, "Lucas asked me to marry him!"

El hugged her back unable to hold back her own tears.

"You'll be my bridesmaid?"

El nodded still crying.

A few minutes later, Mike came into the room, and Max showed him the ring on her hand.

"One ring to rule them all. Wow, Lucas must be serious if he gave you his homemade ring from Lord of the Rings."

"It's just a placeholder until I get the real thing… I couldn't wait any longer to ask her."

El kept her head down. Would Mike ever ask her? She felt like they were both ready to make that commitment. Even after only a few days. She knew it in her heart. If this didn't prompt him, knowing that his best friend had re-connected with a childhood girlfriend… well… maybe Mike wasn't sure at all?

"I bought four bus tickets. We leave for Hawkins at six." Lucas waived them around.

XXXXX

The bus pulled out of the station. The more El had been thinking about it, the more she was sure that Mike was not ready for the next step. They really hadn't spent that much time together. Even though he now knew all of her secrets, she was still disappointed.

El, she thought to herself. Get a hold of yourself. How long have you known Mike? You can still count it in hours. But _I'm_ ready! Yes, but he may not be. You'll just have to live with it. He's already told you he loved you. He's said it a few times, it's not like he's going leave you.

"Something wrong El?

"No." She gave a huge sigh.

"I look forward to these quiet times where we can just hold hands and be with each other."

"I'm not really in the mood Mike." She said it before she could stop herself.

"Hmm, that's gonna make what I have to say a lot harder, but I don't want wait El."

She looked at him. She was a jumble of emotions, was he going to ask? Or was that just wishful thinking. Or… did… maybe her secret was too much for him, and he was just along for the ride and planned to stay in Hawkins? The thought terrified her. Mike knew enough to put her in jail for a long time. Or back in the lab.

She'd rather die in jail then go back to the lab.

She as much told Mike that she didn't want to go back to Hawkins. Too many bad memories there. Nothing good would ever happen to her there. She knew she was being moody. Bitchy maybe. And now she was starting to get depressed.

"If you married me in Hawkins, that would be a good memory."

She stopped breathing and looked at him. "You are asking me to marry you?" She thought she'd have to pinch herself to make sure it wasn't a dream.

She hadn't been expecting him to ask _right this minute._ But he did.

And they he continued talking. She didn't hear a word he said, he continued talking.

Finally she kissed him. Told him _yes_ a few more times.

She realized this hadn't been spontaneous at all when he told her that her dad wanted to give her away.

The whole day's emotions came out in a sob. Mike told her that Max would still be her best friend. Everything was falling into place. She didn't remember anything until the bus stopped at the station in Hawkins.

XXXXX

Her dad picked them up at the bus station. When she hugged him, she didn't let go and eventually he said.

"They are only going to keep that office open for so long at my request, so if you want to get married tonight, we have to get in the truck."

Mike laughed. "Still want to El? You can change your mind."

"Not a chance," El said. "Let's go."

Mike sat in the back seat and looked out the back window.

There were a lot of flashing lights and sirens, state trooper cruisers, army vehicles.

"What's going on?" Mike asked.

"Hawkins lab is lit up like a christmas tree. Something big going on there. They haven't told me shit. Those aren't DoD vehicles, those are straight up army."

"Somebody in that building is in big trouble."

El glanced a smile back and Mike.

"Dad, Mike and I have known each other less than a week. Why are you ok with this? Us getting married."

"You didn't hear his voice when he talked about you."

"Every time I talk about you in front of Joyce or Flo, they tell me my voice changes. I thought they were joking. Mike called me yesterday, asked me if I could help him. I heard his voice."

Her dad cleared his throat, "I heard his voice when he said he loved you. That's all I needed to hear."

She put her head in her hands and started crying yet again.

"That's was meant as a good thing, honey."

El nodded.

Mike reached over and put his hand on her shoulder.

XXXXX

"Who gives Eleven Jane Hopper to be married to Mike Wheeler tonight."

"That would be me, Jim Hopper. _I _do."


End file.
